An inmate at a state prison in Cayuga County has been accused of assaulting a correction officer earlier this year.
Here’s more about the encounter and arrest:
Stabbing in prison
Amar Bell, an inmate at Auburn Correctional Facility, is accused of stabbing a correction officer during an incident in March, according to New York State Police.
Auburn Correctional Facility is a maximum-security prison for men, according to the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
Bell, 49, is accused of approaching the officer during evening meal movement, striking him in the face and stabbing him three times with a homemade weapon, troopers said.
The correction officer suffered a puncture wound to his upper left arm and two puncture wounds to his upper left back,
said Trooper Lynnea Crane. He was taken to Auburn Community Hospital for treatment.
Homemade weapon recovered
After the encounter, correctional facility staff recovered a "homemade, icepick-style weapon," Crane said.
State Police investigators also obtained and reviewed surveillance footage of the incident. The investigation was conducted with the DOCCS Office of Special Investigations.
Inmate charged
Bell was indicted by a Cayuga County grand jury on three felony charges:
- Second-degree assault
- First-degree possession of dangerous prison contraband
- Attempted aggravated assault on a police officer with a deadly weapon
Bell was arraigned in Cayuga County Court Friday, Sept. 18, and returned to custody.
He is currently an inmate at Five Points Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison for men in Romulus, Seneca County, according to DOCCS.
Bell is more than halfway through a 20-year prison sentence stemming from a 2014 assault and weapons possession conviction in Westchester County, according to DOCCS.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: NY inmate accused of stabbing correction officer with homemade weapon
