Three Inmates Charged In Corrections Officers' Assaults

BURLINGTON, IA — Three inmates at the Des Moines County Correctional Center have been charged with attempted murder for their roles in assaulting two correctional officers at the jail last week. Charges were filed on Monday.

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation reported that the Des Moines County Sheriff's office and Burlington and West Burlington police departments were dispatched to assist on Dec. 10 after it was reported a correctional officer was being pinned down and beaten by the inmates in the male maximum security area of the jail.

The Burlington Hawk Eye reported the incident occurred when the officers were evacuating cells to conduct a search after receiving word that inmates were making "hooch," a type of homemade alcohol. In the process of moving inmates, corrections officers Dakota Day and Darlene Fox both were assaulted by two inmates.

The corrections officers were taken to the Great River Medical Center. Fox was treated and released; Day was released Dec. 12 following surgery for a number of injuries, including fractured facial bones, according to the Hawk Eye.

The newspaper reported that inmates Earl Booth-Harris, 24, Jorge Sanders-Galvez, 23, were the attackers in the incident while Bobby Joe Morris, 26, prevented other jail personnel from intervening to assist their colleagues. The three men have been charged with attempted murder and assault on a correctional officer.

The Hawk Eye also reported that Booth-Harris and Sanders-Galvez had been in the jail awaiting sentencing for unrelated murder convictions for which each faces a life sentence without parole. Morris, convicted of armed robbery, was sentenced for that crime on Monday to 25 years in prison.

Booth-Harris and Sanders-Galvez have been transferred to the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison; Morris was taken to the Iowa Classification and Medical Center in Oakdale.

Image via Robert Hickerson/Unsplash