Enfield Inmate Charged with Manslaughter

A prisoner at the Willard-Cybulski Correctional Institution has been charged with manslaughter in the beating death of a fellow inmate.

Jose Gutierrez, 25, is charged with second-degree manslaughter after allegedly assaulting his dormitory mate, Jason Scribner, 31, according to state police.

Gutierrez, who is from the Bridgeport area, was processed in Tolland Superior Court in Rockville Wednesday morning, according to state police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance.

Correctional officers responded to Scribner's room on March 10 after being told by other inmates that the prisoner had suffered a medical seizure, according to police. Scribner was found unconscious and immediately transported to medical unit and then taken to the John Dempsey Medical Center at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington, according to Vance. Scribner died four days later, police said.

On March 14, a deputy medical examiner with the Office of the Chief States Medical Examiner determined that Scribner, who was from the Norwich area, died from multiple skull fractures and fractured ribs. Believing that the injuries were suspicious, state police launched a criminal examination into Scribner's death, Vance said in the release.

Based on witness interviews and evidence, state police detectives allege Gutierrez, who was at Willard-Cybulski on drug related charges, assaulted Scribner, who was at the prison for previously interferring with police, causing Scribner's death, according to the release.

Gutierrez was to have been releaed on May 12, according to the Department of Correction Web site.