As Inmates Sue DOC, 16 Souza-Baranowski Prisoners Indicted

WORCESTER, MA — A Worcester County grand jury on Thursday indicted 16 Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center inmates over a violent clash between prisoners and guards last month. The charges come as other inmates are suing the state Department of Corrections over conditions at the state's only maximum security prison.

On Jan. 10, several inmates reportedly fought with corrections officers, leaving four guards injured. The prison was then placed on lockdown, and inmates were denied access to their attorneys and vistors. That lockdown has since been lifted in part.

Last Friday, three inmates sued the state Department of Corrections, alleging that they had been beaten and mistreated in retaliation for the Jan. 10 incident — although the inmates say they were not involved in the fight.

Following the January fight, one man told WBUR that teams of prison guards began entering cells to beat and harass inmates.

"Officers just started tasering me, beating me, punching me, calling me the N-word," the prisoner, who was quoted anonymously, told the station.

In early February, a group of state lawmakers made an unannounced visit to the prison to explore allegations of abuse.

The indictments handed down Thursday range in severity. According to Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early Jr., six inmates are facing two counts each of assault and battery causing injury and four counts each of assault and battery on a corrections officer. The rest are facing charges ranging from assault and battery with a dangerous weapon to aggravated kidnapping.

The four guards injured on Jan. 10 were hospitalized, and only one has returned to work, Early said in a statement.

In an unrelated incident, two corrections officers from the U.S. Bureau Prisons Federal Medical Center in Devens were indicted in early February. Seth Bourget, 39, of Woodstock, Conn., and Joseph M. Lavorato, 51, of Wilmington, have been accused of beating a handcuffed inmate, and destroying video evidence of the crime, according to U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling.