Another assault on a detention officer has taken place at the Alamance County jail.
It is the latest in a series of assaults on jail personnel by inmates.
Sheriff Terry Johnson has recently noted to county commissioners that the shortage of staff at the jail has put the remaining officers in danger of such assaults.
During a meeting with the county commissioners on December 10, Johnson reported, “Since October 22, we’ve lost 56 detention officers,” he went on to inform the commissioners, explaining the shortage of detention officers.
“We have had 12 assaults because we didn’t have the staff to run that jail . . . When you have that reduced staff, it’s unsafe for the inmates and it’s unsafe for the detention officers . . . and that’s a liability to us,” he told the commissioners.
Johnson added that there may come a time when the jail’s staffing shortages will endanger his long-standing arrangements with the US Marshals Service and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which pay the county about $6 million a year for the space to temporarily house their detainees.
The latest occurred Thursday when an officer brought a dinner tray to inmate Vladimir Vladimiro Vazquez, white, male, age 32, of 4712 South NC Highway 49, Burlington.
Vazquez, without warning, hit the officer repeatedly in the face, temple, and back of the head until he fell to the floor hitting his head on a metal floor plate, according to the sheriff’s office.
After assaulting the officer, according to the sheriff’s office, the inmate ran back into his cell.
Meanwhile, the officer was transported to the hospital and was treated for a concussion as well as injuries to his face.
Vazquez has been charged with assault inflicting physical injury on a detention officer and was given a secured bond of $100,000.
