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| Inmate burned by scalding water in attack at R.I. correctional facility |
| By Providence Journal |
| Published: 12/29/2003 |
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Eric Rosenholm woke up Christmas Eve in searing pain. He was in his bed in a minimum-security cell at the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston, RI. Another inmate had used a personal electric hot pot to boil water and then, at 5 a.m., poured the water over Rosenholm's hands and upper body, said prison spokesman Al Bucci. Rosenholm, 22, was taken to Rhode Island Hospital where, last night, he was still being treated for his burns. A hospital spokeswoman said he was listed in "fair" condition. But his grandmother, Betty Savard of Glocester, said she wanted to know how her grandson came to be assaulted while he slept inside the prison. "How could this happen?" she asked yesterday. "What was this guy doing? Where was the officer while he's getting water and boiling it?" Bucci said 12 inmates shared Rosenholm's cell -- one of the smaller cells at the ACI's minimum-security wing. When Rosenholm was attacked, an officer was stationed outside the room, Bucci said. Minimum-security inmates are allowed more freedom and less scrutiny than inmates in higher-security areas, Bucci said. He said there was no reason for a officer to anticipate the nighttime attack. Most of the inmates in minimum are serving short terms for nonviolent crimes, Bucci said. Rosenholm, who plead no contest in October to reckless driving and domestic assault, was serving a 90-day sentence and was due to get out in a few days. His alleged attacker, however, was a member of another class of inmates, Bucci said, "who have been in the system for a very long time but have earned [the right] to be classified for minimum security" through good behavior. The inmate was serving a two-year sentence for felony assault, Bucci said. Now, he has been sent to the medium-security wing and placed in "punitive segregation," Bucci said; the state police are investigating the case but have not yet brought charges. Minimum-security inmates have long been allowed to purchase electric hot pots for their personal use, Bucci said. He said he didn't know if the hot pots had ever before been used as weapons. The hot pots have been confiscated, Bucci said. From now on, he said, a single hot pot at the officer's station will be shared by all, and used only under supervision. Although Bucci said he did not know the extent of Rosenholm's injuries, his grandmother, Savard, said they were extensive, covering his arms, chest and face. Her daughter, Rosenholm's mother, found out that her son was in the hospital when another inmate called to tell her, Savard said. Bucci said the prison's policy is to call an inmate's family only when it's "absolutely necessary." From what her grandson told her, Savard said, it seemed the attack followed a disagreement regarding a set of headphones. |
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