Officer injured in Anamosa prison attack

DES MOINES — A correctional officer was assaulted by an inmate Wednesday at the Anamosa State Penitentiary that was the scene of a deadly attack earlier this year.

The Iowa Department of Corrections said an inmate, secured in restraints, was being supervised by the officer during a virtual disciplinary hearing with an administrative law judge.

About 9:09 a.m., the inmate became upset and “began acting out in a violent manner.” The officer tried to restrain him and another officer arrived to assist.

The assisting officer suffered an injury to his arm and was taken to the Anamosa hospital, where doctors determined he had a soft-tissue injury. The other officer, also examined at the hospital, was not injured, nor was the prisoner, corrections officials said.

Wednesday’s assault came nearly two months after, authorities say, two inmates attempting to escape March 23 from the same prison used hammers to bludgeon to death nurse Lorena Schulte and Corrections Officer Robert McFarland.

The deaths have prompted multiple investigations and brought sharp criticism from the union representing workers in Iowa penitentiaries that the state has allowed staffing levels to dip to dangerous levels.

Inmates Michael Dutcher and Thomas Woodard — now facing first-degree murder, second-degree kidnapping and attempted murder charges — also are accused of briefly taking another staffer, Lorie Matthes, hostage and seriously injuring McKinley Roby, an offender who tried to help McFarland and Schulte.

Also last month, state officials confirmed they were analyzing a "household substance“ that could be used to make a bomb that was found in an inmate’s cell at the prison.

Before adjourning its 2021 session last month, the Iowa Legislature approved about a 5 percent increase — roughly $20 million — to the Correction Department's fiscal 2022 budget that begins July 1.

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