Convicted Murderer Accused Of Attacking Doctor, CO At Suffield Prison

SUFFIELD, CT — A man serving a life sentence after being convicted of stabbing his girlfriend's stepfather to death in 2006 was arrested Wednesday after a doctor and corrections officer were assaulted inside the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield, according to state police.

Joe Baltas, 35, formerly of Meriden, was charged with two counts of assault on public safety personnel. Bond was set at $500,000, and he is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in Hartford Superior Court.

According to a state police report, troopers were called to the prison on Route 159 around 11:21 a.m. upon a report of assaults against an officer and medical personnel. Investigation determined Baltas had struck a doctor in the chest and pinned him against a wall before being restrained by Department of Correction personnel.

Upon arrival in a restrictive housing unit, Baltas slipped a restraint and punched an officer twice in the face and once in the shoulder. The officer was taken to UConn Medical Center with minor injuries, according to the report.

In 2010, Baltas was convicted of murder and two counts of first-degree assault in connection with the Oct. 25, 2006 stabbing death of Michael Laverty, 59, inside a Meriden apartment. Laverty's wife and son were also stabbed, but their injuries did not prove to be fatal.

Baltas was sentenced to 95 years in prison, and beginning in early 2014, developed a history of violence against corrections personnel. Prior to Wednesday, he had been charged with felonies nine times, most recently on Aug. 23, when he is accused of stabbing a pair of officers at the Garner Correctional Institution in Newtown, according to judicial records.