NY inmate sentenced for attacking corrections officer

Observer-Dispatch

UTICA, N.Y. — A 34-year-old inmate incarcerated at the Mohawk Correctional Facility was sentenced Friday for second and third-degree assault of a corrections officer, according to the New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association.

Jason Melendez was sentenced to one-and-a-half year to three years in state prison, which will run consecutive to his current time served, according to NYSCOBPA.

On the morning of July 8, Melendez struck the officer in the face and head several times after he was counseled about smoking, according to NYSCOPBA. Other staff responded and found Melendez lying on the floor, and he began to struggle with staff when they attempted to apply mechanical restraints, officials said.

The corrections officer sustained sustained a half-inch laceration to his left eye brow and a laceration to his lip that took 10 stitches to close at an outside medical facility, officials said.

Melendez was indicted by a grand jury in November and pleaded guilty to the charges before the case went to trial, officials said.

At the time of the assault, Melendez was serving a 15-year sentence after being convicted in Orange County in 2008 for second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, officials said. He was scheduled for conditional release in March 2021. After the attack he was transferred from Clinton Correctional Facility.