A staff member at Jefferson City Correctional Center was assaulted Friday, prompting the prison to go into lockdown status for a few hours, according to Missouri Department of Corrections officials.
DOC spokeswoman Karen Pojmann said the assault occurred around 8:30 a.m. in an outside compound of the prison.
"The prisoner, who is serving time for two murder convictions, was in an administrative segregation unit," she said. "These are units where we house prisoners who we have determined could do harm to themselves and others."
Prisoners in administrative segregation cannot have regular jobs in the prison, take classes, go to religious activities or eat in the dining halls.
"Those in segregation are kept in their cells," Pojmann said. "They are only allowed out for showers every three days and outdoor recreation."
The prisoner was in a large outside cage where administrative segregation prisoners are allowed to go to for one hour of recreation three times a week.
"Somehow the prisoner was able to manipulate a wire in the cage, pull it out, and crawled outside of the cage," Pojmann said. "He then climbed up the side of the cage and onto a roof of one of the prison buildings. He then came down from the roof and attacked a female support staff member from behind."
Pojmann said the prisoner used the wire he'd taken out of the cage as a weapon.
"He pulled the woman down onto the ground and held the wire to her throat," Pojmann said. "Within a few seconds, approximately 13 staff members arrived on the scene, according to a review of our video surveillance system. The prisoner threatened to hurt the woman if the other staff got too close."
Pojmann said the prisoner wanted to see a unit manager. The manager was brought in; and after the two talked, the prisoner was convinced to release the woman, handing his weapon to one of the other staff members. The prisoner was secured and taken back to administrative segregation.
The staff member who was assaulted did not have injuries that required immediate medical attention, but she was "obviously shaken up" and was sent home, the spokeswoman said.
"From beginning to end, the entire incident took a total of three minutes," Pojmann said.
The prison was placed on "modified lockdown" until 1 p.m.
"Visitors were still allowed and transfers and deliveries to the facility continued, but all the prisoners were kept in their cells for the rest of the morning as prison staff inspected them to make sure there were no other areas of concern," Pojmann said. "Within in an hour after the incident, construction crews and inspectors were on the scene to create a new structure."
Pojmann said staff at JCCC had no recollection of an incident like this happening since the prison opened in September 2004.
"That (type of assault) is unusual," she said. "Now staff do get assaulted in the segregation unit, but it's more like someone throwing urine on them or kicking them. It's not unusual for minor assaults to happen in that environment."