The family of a California correctional officer who was fatally stabbed by an inmate has sued the prison system for $100 million, alleging that the officer would have survived if he had been issued a protective vest, says the Sacramento Bee. Relatives of Officer Manuel Gonzalez, 43, said the California Institution for Men in Chino should have handed out stab-proof vests that sat in a warehouse for four months before the January slaying.
The suit contends that officials should not have housed Gonzalez’s killer with the general prison population. He is Jon Christopher Blaylock, a “three-strikes” inmate serving 75 years to life for attempting to murder a Los Angeles police officer. The prison’s warden, Lori DiCarlo, and her two chief deputies were relieved of their positions last month. A corrections department spokesman said there still are not enough vests for the 30,000 officers in California’s prison system.
Link: http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/courts_legal/story/13304915p-14147156c.html