16-Year Veteran CDC Correctional Officer Dies

From Inmate Stabbing Attack

Correctional Officer Manuel A. Gonzalez, Jr., 43, a 16-year employee of the California Department of Corrections, died today following a stabbing incident involving an inmate at California Institution for Men (CIM). Today's tragic murder of a California correctional peace officer is the first in nearly 20 years.

At approximately 10:50 a.m. today, Officer Gonzalez was stabbed while performing his duties at CIM. The officer was transported to a nearby hospital for emergency treatment where he subsequently died. His next of kin was notified. The CDC Law Enforcement and Investigations Unit and the Chino Police Department are conducting the investigation at this time.

Three inmates are being questioned about today's incident. One inmate is believed to have been responsible for the murder; however, investigators are questioning two other inmates.

The primary inmate suspect in the murder is Jon Christopher Blaylock, 35, who was committed from Los Angeles County in June 2004 after being convicted of attempted murder of a peace officer. He was given a sentence of 75 years and had served time at CDC twice before, for attempted burglary in 1990 and in 1993. He was last released from prison in April 2002.

Roderick Q. Hickman, Secretary of the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, issued a statement:

"My thoughts and prayers go out to Officer Gonzalez' family at this tragic time. When something like this happens, all of us in the Corrections family are deeply impacted and pained. There is no greater loss than to lose a brother officer killed in the line of duty. I know as professionals we will pull together to help Officer Gonzalez' children and parents deal with this loss and all of us throughout this state will pull together to help heal the wound that has been inflicted on our agency and state.

I also want to assure the family and the officers who served with Manuel Gonzalez that we will do everything in our power to ensure that the ones responsible for this crime are held accountable to the highest degree of the law."

CDC Director Jeanne S. Woodford issued a statement:

"My condolences go out to the family of Correctional Officer Manuel A. Gonzalez, Jr. I do not have the words to express my grief and sadness. It has been nearly 20 years since a CDC employee died in the line of duty. Prison design, the classification system, and CDC policies and procedures all contribute to staff safety, but the risk is always there that we could be subjected to severe injury, or as in this case, give our lives for public safety.

Correctional Officer Gonzalez was a consummate professional who was well respected by his co-workers. He was reliable and approached his responsibilities with a spirit of teamwork. He was friendly, went beyond his duties to assist other staff, communicated well with inmates, and worked to make our facilities safer.

Not only was Correctional Officer Gonzalez a corrections professional, but a beloved father of five children. His death is a great loss not only to CDC, but to his family, friends and co-workers.

Our hearts and prayers go out to Correctional Officer Gonzalez' family and friends and to those employees who knew him and worked with him at California Institution for Men, California State Prison, Los Angeles County; and Corcoran State Prison. All of us have been touched by this loss and I know that we will all pull together to support each other during this difficult time."

With the deepest sympathy, I am forwarding this email to you from CUSA (Corrections USA). The details of the incident are sketchy at this time, but it appears that all 32 California state prisons were immediately put on "lockdown" status, with inmates stripped of all privileges and confined to their cells for at least 24 hours as officials sought to determine if the attack was part of a broader, orchestrated action against staff. Very early information suggests that members of the East Coast Crips street gang are a part of this investigation. The inmates named in this investigation are...Jon Christopher Blaylock, 35, a convict from Los Angeles County who in June began serving a 75-year sentence for attempted murder of a peace officer, as well as Keith White and Henry Riley. In recent years, investigators have focused on the gang as a source of assault plots against staff at prisons statewide. Calling Gonzalez' death "a tragic loss," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered flags at the Capitol flown at half-staff in his memory.

Regrets,
Eddie Callaghan

New Jersey Riot leaves 29 Officers injured.
January 7, 2005
Officers union says DOC covering up Bayside riot
By DANIEL WALSH Staff Writer, (856) 794-5111

MAURICE RIVER TOWNSHIP - It was a riot.

It began Saturday afternoon with a standard frisk for contraband - food, in this case - in a Bayside State Prison dorm's common room. One inmate didn't like it, decked the corrections officer and yelled, "Rat-a-tat-tat! Blood out! Where's my dogs?" The "blood out!" cry then resonated from other men's lips throughout the dorm, corrections officer union officials said.

Within a minute, three corrections officers faced at least 30 inmates, who flooded into the common area and attacked with irons, broomsticks, mop handles and locks stuffed in socks and wielded like flails. The inmates fought in an organized back-to-back formation, one side facing the one open door through which reinforcements had to come to aid the officers. The officers fought for their lives in what state law defines as a riot, a violent incident involving at least five people per side.

This week, 29 officers missed work with injuries. Two spent Thursday in surgery. One lieutenant has a broken eye socket and numerous other injuries after being hit in the face with an iron. Union officials for Bayside's officers gave this account Thursday after a half-dozen men claiming to be corrections officials anonymously contacted The Press with details of the New Year's Day riot. All expressed concerns about a cover-up in the making, a sentiment echoed by their union head.

Their tale differs from the official story out of Trenton. State Department of Corrections spokesman Matt Schuman said about 20 officers were hurt in the "disturbance." Schuman said the 26 inmates involved have been shipped off to New Jersey State Prison in Trenton.

A state Department of Corrections spokeswoman initially said no weapons were involved. On Thursday, Schuman said he "can't confirm or deny" the presence of weapons. He couldn't comment on any gang roles, either. He didn't confirm or deny the union officials' accounts.
Schuman said he can't answer specific charges until the investigation is complete, which should be sometime next week.

Union officials, on the other hand, had plenty to say. "It's scary because it was orchestrated," said Troy Ferus, head of the New Jersey State Corrections Association, or NJSCA, a union representing Bayside's rank-and-file officers. "These guys knew their stuff."

The melee took place in the common area of a dorm that's essentially several mobile homes renovated and connected. The common area opens to hallways leading to four wings, according to state and union descriptions. Two, sometimes three, officers patrol each dorm, which house more than 120 inmates.

When the "blood out!" call went out at about 4:45 p.m., inmates streamed into the common area, union officials said. Officers eventually shut gates blocking off the wings, but that didn't stop inmates. They ran down their halls, out fire escapes, and hopped the one fence that had no "razor ribbon" atop it, Ferus said. Then they came around the front of the building and flooded into the common room through the front door, the only one left unlocked. "Every guy in every wing knew how to do it," Ferus said.

Inside, the inmates protected themselves from responding officers by fighting back to back.
"The inmates took up positions that would appear to be previously practiced," said Joe Carmen, a lawyer for the NJSCA.

The officers subdued the inmates after about 20 minutes, but took far worse a beating, according to union and state accounts. All told, as many as 40 inmates joined the melee, Carmen said, and they walked away with bruises, scrapes and other minor injuries. "They should be subdued; it shouldn't be a Rodney King deal," Carmen said. "That's the way they're trained."

Carmen spoke on behalf of several corrections officers because the state forbids the officers from speaking to the media without approval from the Department of Corrections. Each person who called The Press claiming to be a corrections officer refused to give his name because of concerns that he would be fired for speaking to the media. Ferus echoed their concerns that state officials are downplaying the incident's severity. "It's not in their best interests to go around blasting that some officers got hurt," Ferus said.

Union officials say the riot may not have been scheduled for the very moment that it took place, but a plan was in place, and the "blood out!" cry set it into motion. The gang, the Bloods, had infiltrated Bayside in far greater numbers than corrections officers realized, say Ferus and Carmen, who believe most of the marauding inmates were Bloods.

In the past, officers got 40 hours a year of training, including classes in identifying gang signs. They don't anymore, due to state cutbacks. "They're aware that there's gang activity," Carmen said. "I don't know if they were aware it was this organized."

Eddie "CAMEN"