An inmate killed a corrections officer at a prison in Virginia, the state corrections department said Monday.
Corrections officer Jeremy Lewis Hall, 40, was killed in what the Virginia Department of Corrections called a “vicious attack.” Hall had worked for the corrections department for a year and a half.
The attack occurred at River North Correctional Center in Independence, a town in the southwestern part of the state. The correctional center is about 340 highway miles from D.C.
The center is classified on the corrections department website as a Level 4 prison, indicating that two higher levels of security exist. The website indicates that a Level 4 prison holds long-term inmates, with terms that may include life imprisonment.
The attacker was not immediately identified. It was not clear what preceded the attack.
Two other corrections officers were apparently injured in the Monday morning incident, which occurred about 7:50 a.m. The two have been treated and released from a local hospital, the corrections department said.
The killing remains under investigation by the corrections department’s law enforcement services office.
“Our agency, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and corrections professionals around the nation join us in mourning the loss of Officer Hall,” Chad Dotson, director of the state corrections department, said in a statement.
“Our hearts continue to be with Officer Hall’s family, friends, and his fellow public safety heroes at River North.”
Virginia Attorney General Jason S. Miyares (R) said he was “devastated that a Virginia correctional officer was killed in the line of duty this morning, and another seriously injured, following a violent attack by an inmate at River North Correctional Center.”
River North opened in 2013 and was designed to hold 1,000 inmates. It is near the border between Virginia and North Carolina, and south of Wytheville.
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