WASHINGTON (AP) – An inmate at the largest federal prison in the U.S. was stabbed in the eyeball by a fellow prisoner this month, the latest gruesome example of violence in a prison system plagued by chronic unrest, understaffing, corruption and abuse.
The 27-year-old inmate was attacked from behind at FCI Fort Dix, a low-security prison in Burlington County, New Jersey, that is run by the same warden who was in charge of a Manhattan federal jail when financier Jeffrey Epstein killed himself, three people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.
The inmate, whom the AP is not identifying, has remained hospitalized since the Nov. 5 attack, they said. He is expected to survive. The people familiar with the matter were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and insisted on anonymity.
The stabbing is just the latest example of serious violence within the beleaguered federal Bureau of Prisons. The agency has struggled through a multitude of crises in recent years, including widespread staffing shortages, serious employee misconduct, a series of escapes and deaths.
On Tuesday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., called for Bureau of Prisons Director Michael Carvajal to be fired after an AP investigation found rampant criminal activity among employees as agency officials overlooked wrongdoing.