Assaults on inmates, officers rise as area's jail populations increase

As prison and jail populations increase, so do the number of assaults on inmates and officers.

At Scott County Jail, there is nearly a direct correlation to the jail population rising and the number of assaults. In 2014, the average population in the jail was 79, and there were four inmate-on-inmate assaults and one assault on a corrections officer.

In 2015, the average population at the jail jumped to 111, and there were six inmate-on-inmate assaults and one assault on an officer.

This year, with the average daily population up to 127, assaults on other inmates have increased to 12 and assaults on officers are up to three. There were 157 inmates in the jail Friday.

"It seems like every day, we're busier than the day before," Scott County Sheriff's Capt. Jerry Bledsoe said.

Scott County employs five corrections officers to work during the day, one of whom is stationed in a control room and cannot leave if there is a problem with inmates, Bledsoe said. A correction officer is required to accompany an inmate who needs to go to the hospital. In those scenarios, administrators can call road deputies in to help at the jail, Bledsoe said. Scott County has 13 total correction officers on staff.

"Our guys are definitely overworked," Bledsoe said. "We don't have the number of people we feel we need. ... The sheriff goes to the county commission every year, asking for more people."

Bledsoe said assaults are unavoidable at times.

"You're dealing with people in jail," He said. "They're going to take it out on other inmates."

Cape Girardeau County has more corrections officers -- 30, counting administrators -- but its assaults also have increased as the jail population has increased.

From 2011, inmate-on-inmate assaults climbed each successive year, except for 2014: 17, 21, 47, 40 and 56 in 2015.

Assaults on officers were low during those years, ranging from zero to three, except for 2015, when the jail saw nine assaults on officers.

The numbers for both types of assaults were much higher in 2015 in part because of one inmate who was a consistent problem, Mulcahy said. In one case, two officers were assaulted at once, Mulcahy said.

"Most of the time, assaults on officers in our facility are because of mental illness," Mulcahy said.

The assault numbers in 2016 so far are down to 28 inmate-on-inmate assaults and two inmate-on-officer assaults. Mulcahy attributes the decrease to a declining inmate population and a court system moving more swiftly.

At the Southeast Correctional Center in Charleston, Missouri, where 1,600 men are incarcerated, there were 15 minor inmate-on-inmate assaults in 2011, followed in successive years by 12, 19, 17 and 26.

So far in 2016 through July, there have been eight.

In 2011, there were 32 minor assaults on staff, followed successively by 48, 41, 56 and 64 last year. Through July, there have been 28.

Major assaults in Charleston have been more sporadic. There were 22 major staff assaults in 2011, 31 in 2012, 19 in 2013, 34 in 2014, 31 in 2015 and 19 in 2016.

There were four major inmate-on-inmate assaults in 2011, nine in 2012, 11 in 2013, nine in 2014, 11 in 2015 and seven in 2016. The difference between minor and major assaults in the Missouri Department of Corrections of Offender Handbook is an attempt to deliver serious and non-serious injuries. Causing a person to come in contact with bodily fluids constitutes an assault in the handbook.

Southeast Correctional is one of six maximum-security correctional centers operated by the state Department of Corrections. DOC communications director David Owen wrote in a email the incarcerated population in Missouri has risen over the last three fiscal years, but the department ensures all correctional centers are adequately staffed. The department is recruiting new staff members, Owen wrote.

"The safety and security of staff and offenders within the correctional centers are one of the top priories of the department," Owen wrote. "Anytime a rule infraction by an offender that results in a major or minor assault violation against correctional staff or offenders will be thoroughly investigated in order to seek prosecution."

bkleine@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3644

Pertinent address: 300 East Pedro Simmons Dr., Charleston, MO