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Sam Penrod and Marc Giauque reporting Two Beaver County deputies are recovering today after being attacked inside the jail by three gang members
Jail officials say the prisoners broke the jaw of one of the guards and he required surgery.
The three prisoners are state inmates, serving time in the Beaver County Jail. The inmates in this assault are identified as 20-year-old Samisoni Kefu, who was serving time for aggravated assault, burglary and assault by a prisoner; 22-year-old Sione Takai, who was in prison for robbery; and 19-year-old Christopher Olague, who was incarcerated for forgery, obstruction of justice and giving false information to a peace officer.
Beaver County Sheriff Cameron Noel said, "They jumped one of our guards, beat him pretty severely, broke his jaw in three different places and also assaulted another officer that came in to try to assist him."
The men had been outside for recreation and apparently planned the attack on the deputies as they were going back inside the jail.
One deputy sustained minor injuries after being kicked in the head, face and back, while another was much more seriously hurt when his jaw was broken by the prisoners. Noel said, "He's doing well. They released him from the hospital, he is at his home. I believe they had to wire his jaw closed, I guess that's the normal thing you do when that happens. But from what I understand, he's doing OK."
Angie Welling, spokeswoman for the Utah Department of Corrections, says unfortunately in this environment things like this can happen. "Each of the three inmates was incarcerated on some second- and third-degree felonies, which makes them appropriate to be housed in county jails. Our current policy is no first-degree felons," Welling explained.
The Beaver County jail houses about 350 prisoners on a contract for the state of Utah because of prison overcrowding. "We have contracts with each of the county jails that sets out the parameters through which staffing levels and security measures must be taken. We work very closely with our partners in the county jails to make sure both our needs are met."
Investigators are looking into the possibility the men wanted to be re-united with other gang members and knew an assault would mean being returned to the state prison. Noel said, "We're in a dangerous job, that's all there is to it. These are people that have been sentenced to prison for actions that they did outside, and a lot of those individuals have violent personalities, and they acted upon those yesterday, unfortunately."
Corrections officials say the men will now serve time in maximum security at the state prison. They will now face new felony charges for assault by a prisoner.
