Weekend attack at Northern California prison puts counselor in hospital
A counselor attacked Sunday at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione is in good condition at an area hospital and an inmate is facing attempted homicide charges in the attack.
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials said inmate James Johnson set upon the counselor with an improvised weapon about 8:30 a.m. Sunday as the counselor was walking into a prison housing unit.
Prison staffers used chemical agents to halt the attack. The wounded counselor was taken to a prison triage and treatment area before being transported to an outside hospital, state corrections officials said in a statement on Monday.
Johnson, 48, is serving a life sentence at Mule Creek on a 1997 sentence of first-degree murder out of San Diego County, along with prior convictions for intentional discharge of a firearm causing great bodily injury or death, and sexual battery.
Johnson was placed in restrictive housing pending an investigation by Mule Creek officials. The case will be sent to Amador County District Attorney’s Office for potential prosecution, corrections officials said.
Sunday’s attack was the latest at a California state prison, nearly a month after CDCR officials briefly suspended inmate visitations in June after a surge in drug overdoses and violent attacks on prisoners and officers.
All 21 men’s Level III and Level IV facilities — including Mule Creek — were on the CDCR’s “modified program” that put a temporary stop to the visits. The restrictions ended Wednesday.
State corrections officials in June said the action was due to a “recent and concerning rise in violent incidents directed towards both staff and incarcerated individuals.”
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