By Jenna Lyons
San Francisco Chronicle
SAN QUENTIN — A Death Row inmate housed at San Quentin State Prison slipped out of handcuffs Thursday evening and used his shackles to attack a correctional officer, officials said.
Jesse Manzo, a 27-year-old gang member, was being escorted to his cell after a shower around 5 p.m. when he somehow got loose from his handcuffs and used them as a weapon, said officials from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Manzo hit the officer several times before responding correctional officers used pepper spray and batons to stop the attack, said Terry Thornton, a department spokeswoman. Officials were investigating how Manzo escaped his restraints, and whether he had one or both hands free, she said.
The battered correctional officer was taken to a hospital and treated for a “significant facial injury,” along with cuts and wounds, authorities said.
Manzo had been taking a shower in the prison’s East Block Housing Unit, one of five units for the more than 700 male inmates on Death Row.
He was sent to San Quentin on Aug. 12, 2013, 10 days after being sentenced to death in Riverside County for the 2008 gang-related hate crime killing of Raymond Franklin, officials said.
Manzo’s motive for the Thursday attack was being investigated, Thornton said.
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