Stabbed guard still in hospital

A prison guard stabbed multiple times by inmates in a February assault remains in the hospital several weeks after he was attacked, according to the union representing Ohio correctional officers.

Matthew Matthias is in stable condition while being treated for 32 stab wounds and numerous internal injuries and is on dialysis to help his kidneys recover, the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association said Tuesday.

The union also criticized new security policies at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville where the Feb. 20 attack occurred. Those policies, in place at the time Matthias was stabbed, allowed mixing inmates with different security levels while treating them as though they were at a lower level than their designation, according to the union.

Matthias was taking two inmates with the highest security level to the prison infirmary when the attack happened, which shouldn’t have been allowed, the union said.

Even if officials mixed inmates from different levels, “the entire range should be treated as if all inmates are at the highest level,” said Christopher Mabe, president of the guard union.

The prison system says it made changes at the Lucasville prison following the “horrible attack” on Mathias and a consultant is reviewing policies and procedures at Ohio’s highest-security prisons: Lucasville; the supermax Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown; and Toledo Correctional Institution.