Sergeant assaulted at Stillwater prison; third attack at a DOC facility this week

STILLWATER, Minn. -- A staff member at a Minnesota correctional facility is recovering after an inmate assaulted him Thursday morning.

The Minnesota Department of Corrections says an unprovoked inmate rushed up to a corrections sergeant and began striking him in the face during a routine facility unit movement.

This is the seventh DOC staff member to go to the hospital following an inmate attack this week.

The first incident happened on Monday shortly after 11:30 a.m., when a fight broke out among several incarcerated men at the facility in Stillwater. When officers intervened, they were assaulted, the Department of Corrections said. A corrections sergeant and two corrections officers were injured and taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation. They were all released.

On Tuesday shortly before 5:30 p.m., two incarcerated men assaulted a corrections sergeant and two corrections officers at the Oak Park Heights facility. Two were taken to a hospital for evaluation, but one staff member who sustained more serious injuries was taken to Regions Hospital, the DOC said. The staff members were all ultimately released.

"The safety of all those in our facilities is our top priority. Sadly, even though it is a small number of inmates who engage in these acts of violence, these incidents also affect the far greater majority of incarcerated people who are committed to rehabilitation and transformation," DOC Commissioner Paul Schnell said.

All inmates involved in the fights have been moved to a separate, high-security unit at Oak Park Heights, the DOC said.

The DOC's Office of Special Investigations will look into the violence and send its findings to the county attorney for possible charges.