BONNE TERRE, MO - A female officer at Bonne Terre's Eastern Reception Diagnostic and Correctional Center is recovering after she was stabbed by a prison inmate.

A spokesman for the Missouri Department of Corrections said the attack happened about 9:24 p.m. Friday at the prison when an inmate grabbed the officer from behind. Investigators say the inmate stabbed the officer repeatedly in the face and in one eye.

“The incident was said to have lasted about 20 seconds and was described to me as a very vicious attack,” said Brian Hauswirth, Corrections Dept. Information Officer. “The homemade weapon is described as a broken plastic food service tray with a point fashioned at one end about three inches wide and eight to 10 inches long. It had a sock wrapped around one end to make a handle.”

Hauswirth said it's believed the motive for the attack could be in retaliation for a “conduct violation” issued by the officer against the inmate earlier in the week.

The officer, whose name has not been released, was flown to a St. Louis hospital where she is being treated for injuries to her head and one eye. Her condition is described as “stable.”

The suspect has been transferred to the Potosi Prison. Hauswirth said he was in the fourth year of a 5-year sentence for burglary and property damage. He was due to be released in June of 2007.

The attack occurred in what is called the administrative segregation unit of the prison. Hauswirth said it happened in an open part of the wing where the suspect had been assigned to clean.

Extra safety precautions were taken at the prison following the attack, as Hauswirth said they always are. The case is expected to be given to St. Francois County Prosecutor Wendy Wexler Horn next week. This is the first incident this year at the Bonne Terre facility involving an attack on an officer. The maximum security facility has 750 employees and 2,500 inmates.