BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — A Wasco State Prison inmate set to be released next year, now faces decades more in prison after he was convicted of assaulting corrections officers, seriously injuring one of them last July.
A Kern County jury convicted Jose Carrasco, 27, of assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury and multiple counts of battery against a correctional officer, the Kern County District Attorney’s Office said Wednesday in a statement.
The conviction stems from an incident at Wasco State Prison on July 22, 2022. Prosecutors said Carrasco asked a correctional officer for toilet paper, then attacked the officer pushing him into an office to continue the attack.
Prosecutors said Carrasco locked the door behind him and beat the correctional officer, punching him in the face, head and upper body. Other correctional officers tried to get into the room, but Carrasco used his body weight to keep the door shut, the DA’s office said. Responding officers eventually got inside the room and were also attacked by Carrasco, according to prosecutors.
The officer suffered a broken nose and face and needed surgery for his injuries.
“Inmates that continue to commit violent crimes despite being incarcerated in prison will be prosecuted and their sentences extended,” Kern County District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer said in a statement.
Carrasco — a “third-striker” — was serving a prison term for robbery and has a previous conviction in Los Angeles County.
Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 2 and he faces 48-years-to-life in prison.
