Inmate injured in fight at SCI-Fayette
LUZERNE TWP. – Charges are pending against two inmates at SCI-Fayette for allegedly beating and biting another inmate in a fight that left the man’s ear dangling. According to state police at Belle Vernon, the fight took place in one of the prison cellblocks shortly after 5 p.m. on June 19.
According to Trooper James Monkelis, a 33-year-old inmate from Lancaster attacked Michael Sweet, 38, of Philadelphia, biting off a significant portion of Sweet’s right ear, leaving it hanging. Another inmate, a 33-year-old man from Philadelphia, joined the fight.
Monkelis said Sweet received severe cuts and nerve damage. He was initially taken to Uniontown Hospital for treatment, then transferred to UPMC Presbyterian in Pittsburgh. Monkelis said Sweet is now back at SCI-Fayette, and the two inmates suspected in the attack are on lock-down status.
According to Carol Scire, the assistant to the prison’s superintendent and the facility’s public relations officer, fighting is forbidden in the maximum-security prison and those who participate in fights go before a hearing examiner and can be sanctioned with time in the restricted housing unit. Inmates in restricted housing spend 23 hours a day in their cell, with one hour five days a week in a small exercise yard attached to the cell. They eat all of their meals in the cell and can shower only three times a week instead of daily.
In addition to any discipline sanctioned by the prison, the two inmates who allegedly attacked Sweet will also face criminal charges. Monkelis said the charges would be filed at a future time.
Scire said Sweet is serving a 14- to 28-year sentence for rape; the suspect who bit him is serving a 6- to 12-year sentence for robbery and the second suspect is serving 5 to 15 years for robbery.
The June 19 incident was the third fight at the prison within a month that resulted in injuries to inmates or staff members requiring hospital treatment, though Scire said the incidents were unrelated.
“That was an isolated incident between inmates. It had nothing to do with the general population,” Scire said.
An incident occurred May 23, when an inmate attacked two guards with a metal shank during a routine yard check in the restrictive housing unit. One guard suffered a puncture wound to the shoulder while the other received cuts to his neck, right shoulder, right arm and right hand.
The second incident occurred May 26, when 12 inmates were involved in a fight in the exercise yard. Three corrections officers received minor injuries, including exposure to blood, knee and jaw injuries. All three were treated at local hospitals and released.
Three inmates were also taken to the hospital for treatment of injuries described only as non-life-threatening. Other inmates injured in the incident were treated at the prison infirmary. All of the inmates were then placed in restrictive housing. During lockdown, inmates are confined and fed in their cells, with no visitation privileges.