Green Haven Officer Injured When Inmate Throws Dumbbell

STORMVILLE, NY — An officer at Green Haven Correctional Facility was injured Saturday when an inmate threw a dumbbell at him.

The officer was able to block the 25-pound dumbbell from hitting him in the upper body, Mid Hudson News reported.

After being treated by medical staff at the prison, the officer was taken to Vassar Brothers Medical Center.

Chris Moreau, the Mid-Hudson Region vice president of The New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association Inc., blames the increase in inmate-on-staff violence in prison on the passage of the HALT Act a year ago and calls for change.

The Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act restricts the use of segregated confinement in prisons and creates alternative options. It also limits the length of time a person can be in solitary confinement and excludes certain people from being placed in solitary.

Moreau said the attack on the Green Haven officer could have been deadly if the dumbbell the inmate threw had hit him in the head.

“What will it take for those legislators to wake up?” he said. “Have an officer killed at the hands of an inmate?

“Sadly, I am not even sure if that occurred it would cause the legislators to change their ineffective policies,” Moreau said, “and that is infuriating for all of us.”