By C1 Staff
NEW YORK — A correctional officer was stabbed in the ear by an inmate with a pen Saturday, New York Daily News reported.
Inmate Raphael Ishmail attacked an officer inside the George Motchan Detention Center, one of ten facilities on Rikers Island. Ishmail grabbed a pen from a doctor inside and used it to stab the officer in the ear canal.
The officer was sent to the hospital and will most likely suffer permanent hearing damage, jail staff told the news site.
“This assault on our officer was unacceptable,” the department spokesman said in a statement. “Such attacks against the hardworking men and women who serve in our department will not be tolerated.”
It was the eighth stabbing behind bars since Jan. 1.
Correction Officers union boss Norman Seabrook told the publication that attacks behind bars “are on the rise.”
“And eliminating punitive segregation isn’t the right move at this time,” he said. “We hope DOC will work with us to protect our members.”