MN Corrections Officer Dies After Responding To Inmate Attack
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An Oak Park Heights corrections officer suffered a medical emergency and died Monday afternoon, after responding to an inmate assault on another officer.
According to the Pioneer Press, thirty-seven-year-old Joseph Parise died at Regions Hospital in St. Paul. The cause of death was not immediately known.
Parise, who had worked for the DOC for four years, was one of several officers who responded after an inmate assaulted an officer about noon on Monday. Two of the responding staff were injured during the incident and evaluated and released.
The prison was placed on lockdown after the assault.
After returning to his post, Parise experienced a medical emergency and was taken to Regions Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Corrections officers have been calling on state officials to hire more guards for months, following a series of violent attacks against officers this year.
Joseph Gomm, a 45-year-old corrections officer from Blaine, was attacked and killed in July at Stillwater prison, with an inmate accused of the crime. Gomm was the first Minnesota corrections officer to be killed in the line of duty.
A month before his death, a corrections officer at Oak Park Heights was attacked and slashed repeatedly with a razor in the face, hands, and scalp.
In March, a total of 10 officers were injured in the same week after two fights broke out among inmates. All 10 were treated at a hospital and released the same day.