CORCORAN – Officials at California State Prison, Corcoran (COR) are investigating an inmate’s attack on a correctional officer as an attempted homicide.
At 06:05 p.m. Monday, March 4, officers were escorting inmate Jesse Serrano to his maximum-security cell. They began removing his handcuffs through the cuff port. When Serrano had one hand free, he reached into his cell, retrieved an inmate-made weapon, and slashed one of the officers on his left forearm. The inmate continued to pull on the handcuffs to bring the officer closer to him. The second officer used physical force and verbal orders to stop the attack and remove the handcuffs.
The injured officer still had the inmate-made weapon lodged in his arm. It was made from a razor blade with a wrapped end to form a handle. The officer was taken to the prison’s correctional treatment center and then transported to a hospital for treatment of a three-inch long laceration. The officer was released and is recovering.
Inmate Serrano was medically evaluated and was not injured.
Serrano, 41, was admitted from Los Angeles County on Feb. 13, 2013, to serve a 16-year sentence for using a hostage as a shield/protection from arrest, his second strike. He was also convicted in 1998 for brandishing a weapon in the presence of a peace officer, in 2000 for vehicle theft, in 2001 for second-degree robbery, and in 2006 for inflicting corporal injury on a spouse/cohabitant.
COR opened in 1988, employs approximately 2,500 people and houses about 3,200 minimum-, medium-, maximum-, and high-security custody inmates. The prison provides inmates with work, vocational, academic, educational, self-help, religious and other rehabilitative programs and has a fully licensed correctional treatment center.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 5, 2019
Contact: Lt. Edward Sanchez
(559) 992-6104
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