TRENTON >> The latest wave of inmate violence struck Trenton over the weekend when a prisoner viciously attacked a senior corrections officer at New Jersey State Prison.
John Laino suffered facial lacerations and fractures in the assault Sunday and got rushed to Capital Health Regional Medical Center for treatment, according to a state corrections officer union.
“First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers are with State Correctional Police Officer Laino and his family,” PBA Local 105 President Brian Renshaw said Wednesday in a statement. “Our entire PBA Local 105 family wishes him a quick recovery.”
A New Jersey Department of Corrections spokeswoman on Thursday confirmed that “an incident occurred at New Jersey State Prison on March 4 in which an officer was assaulted by an inmate.”
“The inmate is currently undergoing a criminal investigation,” DOC spokeswoman Melanie Weiss said Thursday in an email to The Trentonian. “In the interim, the inmate has received administrative charges and is going through the disciplinary process at the department level.”
According to PBA 105, “The inmate attacked the officer by repeatedly punching him in the face, head and body.” Responding officers were able to detain the inmate, PBA 105 said. Officials did not identify the inmate by name.
Laino, the injured officer, was first treated at the Trenton-based prison and then rushed to the hospital for further treatment. He suffered “facial and head lacerations, fractures about the face and deep bruising to his face,” according to PBA 105, which released a corroborating photo of the officer.
It is not uncommon for New Jersey’s state prison workers to get attacked by inmates. Numerous officers employed by the New Jersey Department of Corrections get injured by inmates every year, according to state data.
In addition to the assault on Officer Laino, PBA 105 has previously reported the following incidents of inmate-fueled prison violence:
* Officer Allan Birch was sitting at his station at the Juvenile Medium Security Facility in Fieldsboro on May 25, 2017, when four inmates simultaneously punched, kicked and stomped the officer multiple times in the head and abdomen.
* Corrections Officer Christopher Platt suffered facial injuries requiring surgery on April 9, 2016, when an inmate at the Albert C. Wagner Youth Correctional Facility in Chesterfield attacked him.
* Corrections Officer Andrea Berry suffered numerous blows to the head at Southern State Correctional Facility on Jan. 27, 2016, when an irate inmate launched a melee.
According to the New Jersey Legislature, 124 state corrections officers used 4,959 workers’ compensation days in fiscal year 2013 as a result of direct inmate contact injuries. DOC employs more than 5,000 custody staff statewide.
Under a new bill signed into law last summer by then-Gov. Chris Christie, any state corrections officer, juvenile corrections officer or juvenile detention officer who, in the course of performing the officer’s official duties, suffers serious bodily injury as the direct result of an assault by the inmates or detainees under the officer’s custody or charge shall continue to receive full wages for up to six months or until the officer begins receiving workers compensation for that injury. State law defines “serious bodily injury” as a bodily injury which creates a substantial risk of death or which causes serious, permanent disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ.
State politicians changed the law last year, because corrections officers who got hurt during an inmate attack or riot previously had to wait until workers compensation kicked in to receive any pay. Under the old law, it could sometimes take several months before an injured officer received any compensation.
PBA Local 105, the largest police union in New Jersey that represents state corrections officers and other personnel, lobbied for a program that would compensate law-enforcement employees who get injured while performing official duties, but the labor group says the new sick leave injury law does not go far enough to ensure that all injured officers get covered.
“The intent of the legislation was to fully compensate people who have been attacked, such as Officer Laino,” Renshaw, the PBA 105 president, said in his statement. “While they are on an extended leave due to their injuries, this compensation would allow the officer to provide for themselves and their family. Unfortunately, we have seen too many victims of vicious inmate attacks be denied their SLI benefits due to legislative language that mentions serious bodily injury. Our State Correctional Police Officers deserve their full SLI benefits when they are out on extended leave due to an attack by an inmate, period.”
Laino has worked for the New Jersey Department of Corrections for over 10 years and currently collects about $62,000 in annual salary, according to public records. It is not clear whether DOC considers his injuries to be “serious.”
Renshaw said PBA 105 is currently working with members of the New Jersey Legislature and the Gov. Phil Murphy administration to “address these unintended consequences of the legislation and restore the full intent of the legislation” to ensure all injured officers get fully compensated with urgency.
“Our officers deserve better,” Renshaw added, “and I will fight to make sure our members and their families are fully compensated should this sort of tragedy ever happen to them.”
Staff writers David Foster and Penny Ray contributed to this report.
