3 charged in attack on corrections officers at Souza prison

Prosecutors are charging three prisoners in connection with an apparent attack on corrections officers at a maximum-security prison in Lancaster, the Massachusetts Department of Correction announced Sunday.

Two correction officers were hospitalized after they were stabbed multiple times while working inside the Souza-Baranowski Correction Center on Sept. 18, according to the department. Three other officers were treated at local hospitals for injuries related to the incident. Authorities did not release the identities of the officers.

Thirty-nine-year-old Jose Crespo, Heriberto Rivera-Negron, 36, and Jeffrey Tapia, 30, were each charged with mayhem, armed assault to murder and assault to murder. The men will be arraigned at separate hearings scheduled for mid-October. The cases are being handled by the Worcester County district attorney’s office.

The prison remains on lockdown, and visitations have been suspended.

Shawn Jenkins, interim commissioner for the Department of Correction, said in a statement the charges show "attacks against our officers will not be tolerated."

"This type of violence is unacceptable and now those involved will be held accountable in the court of law," Jenkins wrote. "We have and will continue to make the safety and health of our Correctional Officers a priority."

After the incident, the correction officers union called on the state to send tactical teams into the prison to search for any contraband, which union President Dennis Martin said had not been done in four years. A union spokesperson reiterated that plea after the charges were filed against the prisoners Friday.

"We demand the DOC take action to make the prisons more secure by clearing out the deadly weapons and drugs that are too prevalent in our system," the union said in a statement.

Correction department officials told the union it's working to improve safety and conducting daily searches for contraband at Souza-Baranowski.

Tactical teams went into Souza in 2020 after an attack injured three correction officers. The tactical teams were then accused of abusing inmates in a lawsuit filed by advocacy group Prisoners Legal Services of Massachusetts. That suit is still pending. Last month, the state reached a settlement in a separate case with two prisoners who said they were abused by the tactical teams that retaliated against the men in custody.

After the mid-September attack, advocates told WBUR they were not surprised violence broke out at Souza and have been receiving complaints about conditions at the prison for months.