CLALLAM BAY — The mother of a correctional officer who was severely hurt in an attack by an inmate, and the union that represents him, questions if conditions at the Clallam Bay Corrections Center are sufficient to protect officers’ safety.
“There are things that need to be fixed before someone else is hurt,” said Joanne Spaulding, the mother of Officer Terry Breedlove.
Breedlove, 51, of Forks remained Saturday in Forks Community Hospital under treatment for head wounds inflicted Monday morning at the prison where he has worked for nine years.
Teamsters Local 117, which represents union members at state prisons, is “looking into reports that safety issues in Officer Breedlove’s unit were not properly addressed,” said Michelle Woodrow, president and director of corrections and law enforcement for Teamsters Local 117, in a written statement received Saturday.
Responses to Woodrow’s statement were not immediately available Saturday, but on Friday, representatives of the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office and state Department of Corrections said the investigation is continuing.
The 900-inmate prison will remain in lockdown status at least throughout the weekend, prison Superintendent Ron Haynes said Friday.
Officer beaten
Breedlove was on duty Monday morning in a medium-security portion of the prison when inmate Abdinjib Ibraham, 28, of King County, who had pried a round metal seat off a stool, repeatedly hit the officer over the head with it, said Deputy Ed Anderson, the interim West End supervisor for the Sheriff’s Office, who is in charge of the criminal investigation.
The attack took place in an area where security cameras were not working, according to investigators.
No correctional officers witnessed the assault. Inmates put a stop to it.
The cameras are now operational, Anderson said Friday, a statement Haynes confirmed.
‘Troubling questions’
The attack “raises troubling questions about whether the [state Department of Corrections] is doing everything it can to protect the safety and security of prison staff,” Woodrow said.
“Clearly, the video equipment that could have recorded the incident was defective and should have been repaired.”
Spaulding said she is grateful for Haynes’ support after the attack, especially his assignment of a guard at her son’s hospital bedside, as well as for an outpouring of offers of help from other prison staff members.
“The whole prison system has been great,” she said.
Talked to governor
However, she has questions, questions she said she relayed to Gov. Jay Inslee when he called Friday to offer his condolences.
“Why was he alone if the cameras are not working?” Spaulding asked.
She also wants to know how was it possible for an inmate to pry off the head of a metal stool.
The stool seat, which was attached to a metal pipe, is “ not something that you can just rip apart,” said Brian King, chief criminal deputy with the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office.
“These are designed not to be removed,” King said. “It was something that would have to occur over time.
“How that occurred I don’t know. It’s certainly part of the investigation,” he said, adding that inmates can employ “a lot of ingenuity” in obtaining weapons.
Haynes said that prison staff is “working on hardening the area.”
Investigations
Spaulding said she asked the governor to investigate.
Jaime Smith, director of media relations in the governor’s office, said Friday the office is not conducting a review separate from the critical incident review underway by the Department of Corrections.
That review will entail “details of the incident, background and enhancements that can be in place at the facility or operationalized,” said Jeremy Barclay, communications director for the state corrections department.
“We touch on all aspects of the incident,” he said. “We look holistically at the situation.”
The criminal investigation by the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office is expected to take as much as another two weeks before charges are recommended to the county prosecuting attorney’s office, King said.
Anderson said Friday he didn’t know how the stool seat had been pried off.
“We’ve got more interviews that we need to do at the prison. There’s a lot more we need to do before we’re ready to finalize the case,” he said.
Breedlove’s condition
Breedlove continues to suffer from head pain, dizziness and memory loss, his mother said, adding that he has 17 staples in his head, 12 above his right eye and that he underwent an MRI test Saturday morning.
He has recovered some of his memory but recalls nothing about the attack, Anderson said.
“It’s a terrible thing that happened,” Haynes said. “He’s a good officer.”
Grateful to inmates
Spaulding said she is grateful to the inmates who helped her son.
One inmate intervened while others notified prison officers of the attack, she said.
She said the inmate who stopped the assault also stayed with her son.
“He held his head out of the blood,” she said. “I thank God for him.”
Breedlove is her oldest son of four children. He has two adult children and one grandchild and is presently unmarried.
He will turn 52 in March, she said, and takes photographs for Calm Waters, which offers outings to wounded veterans.
Her son “treats inmates with respect; he treats staff with respect. I think that’s why the inmate intervened,” Spaulding said.
“If that prisoner hadn’t stepped in, my son would be dead,” she said.
“My whole family owes him our gratitude.”
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Executive Editor Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3530 or at lleach@peninsuladailynews.com.