By Rosalio Ahumada
The Sacramento Bee
FOLSOM, Calif. — Two correctional officers were stabbed, one in the head and neck, by an inmate at a prison in Sacramento County in a Monday morning attack that is being investigated as an attempted homicide, prison officials reported.
Officers injured in the attack at California State Prison, Sacramento were taken by ambulance to an area hospital for treatment, according to a news release from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Prison officials on Monday evening did not have any information on the conditions of the injured officers, but they said the injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.
One of the injured correctional officers was treated and released from the hospital, according to the news release. A third officer injured in the attack was taken to a hospital for a hand injury.
Prison officials said Michael Harris was the inmate who attacked one of the correctional officers with a makeshift weapon. After the attack, officers recovered one “inmate-manufactured weapon” at the scene. The weapon measured about 7 inches long and three-quarters of an inch wide, according to the news release.
The stabbing occurred shortly after 11 a.m. as officers were releasing inmates from Facility B to participate in yard recreation at the prison in Represa, just southwest of Folsom Lake.
An officer was scanning Harris with a metal detector as Harris exited the housing unit. Harris then used the makeshift weapon to stab that officer in the head and neck, prison officials said.
A second officer suffered a stab wound to the right tricep muscle, according to the news release. Responding officers used physical force to stop the attack.
Harris suffered minor injuries during the incident and was taken to a hospital for further evaluation and treatment, prison officials said. They also said that Harris will be placed in segregated housing pending an investigation into the incident.
Movement for inmates in Facility B has been limited to facilitate the investigation. The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office was assisting the prison’s Investigative Services Unit.
Harris was serving a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for Los Angeles County conviction of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and intentional discharge of a gun causing great bodily injury or death, according to the news release. He has been in state custody since Nov. 2, 2009.
The prison in Represa is a high-security prison that houses more than 2,300 inmates and employs about 1,700 people. The prison houses long-term inmates, inmates requiring specialized mental health programming and inmates with high-risk medical concerns.
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