DOC: Stillwater prison on lockdown after 2 corrections officers are assaulted by inmates

Krystal Frasier KSTP

Minnesota Correctional Facility - Stillwater. (Minnesota Department of Corrections)

The Stillwater prison is on lockdown as the state investigates an assault on two corrections officers, the state announced on Sunday morning.

According to the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC), the assaults happened around 11:30 a.m. Saturday. State officials say a corrections officer was attacked by an inmate at a housing unit security post, and during the assault, an inmate who witnessed it as well as a second corrections officer, intervened to try and stop it.

That’s when officials say a third inmate jumped in and started assaulting the second officer.

Both of the inmates who assaulted the officers have since been taken to the maximum-security Oak Park Heights prison, according to the DOC, which adds both of the officers have been released from an area hospital after being treated for their injuries.

The lockdown at the Stillwater prison will continue until investigators determine the motive behind the assaults and the events leading up to them.

After the investigation is done, the Washington County Attorney’s Office will consider charges.

As reported last December, James Ray Evans was charged with assault after attacking a corrections officer at the same prison. He was sentenced last month to serve a year at the St. Cloud prison for the charge. That sentence will run concurrently with those of two other cases filed against him.

Earlier in 2023, a corrections sergeant at the Stillwater prison was assaulted by an inmate while doing a routine facility unit movement.

That officer was one of at least seven to be injured in attacks within Minnesota prisons that week alone, including three staff members at the Oak Park Heights prison. One of the staff members there was taken to Regions Hospital for more serious injuries, and the other two were taken to Lakeview Hospital. All three were eventually released.

A sergeant was also assaulted at the Oak Park Heights prison back in January of 2023 and required surgery.

In February of 2022, two Stillwater corrections officers were attacked while doing a routine cell search.

The year prior, 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS obtained a copy of the entire BCA investigation done in conjunction with Washington County law enforcement and Bayport Police in the beating death of Minnesota Corrections Officer, Joseph Gomm, who was murdered by then-inmate Edward Johnson in 2018 at the Stillwater prison.