Ione Prison Doctor recovering from inmate assault - press release

IONE – A staff physician is recovering from injuries she suffered yesterday from an attack by a Mule Creek State Prison inmate.

Shortly after 8 a.m. on August 12, 2013, inmate Robert Daniel Perry, 61, arrived to a medical appointment at the prison. Without warning, he grabbed the doctor by her hair and started choking her. During the struggle, she managed to activate her personal alarm device. Responding medical staff grabbed the doctor from the inmate’s hold.

Responding custody staff used physical force to subdue Perry and restrain him. One correctional sergeant suffered a cut on his arm and a second sergeant was exposed to blood.

After the incident, custody staff recovered a weapon the inmate had made from two razor blades and found another weapon in the inmate’s cell.

The 65-year-old doctor, a 20-year veteran of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, suffered redness and bruising on her neck. She is at home recovering.

The prison’s Investigative Services Unit is investigating the incident. The Amador County District Attorney’s Office was notified.

Inmate Perry was received by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) on June 18, 1998 from Placer County with a 100-year sentence for making terrorist threats, stalking and attempted extortion. On December 5, 2006, he began serving a 50-year sentence from Kings County for two counts of battery on a non-prisoner.