MASSILLON, Ohio — The Indian River Juvenile Correctional Facility has had its fair share of problems over the last couple of years, including youth assaulting staff.
Sixty-year-old guard David Upshaw was assaulted by a youth inmate in October 2022. The inmate used tape to prevent his cell from locking and attacked the guard as he was performing a hall check.
The inmate let three other inmates out of their rooms. All involved went throughout the facility, ending up on the generator system, where they refused to come down. Hours later, the inmates involved were cuffed and escorted back to their rooms.
Two days later, a woman who worked as a guard was also assaulted.
Then, 12 teens barricaded themselves in a school building on campus, leading to a hours-long standoff.
RELATED: Ohio State Highway Patrol: 'Contained barricade incident' at Indian River Correctional Facility over
In 2023, Chris Mabe, president of the Ohio Civil Services Employee Association, told us staff attacks weren't letting up.
Fast forward to Tuesday, and the Ohio Department of Youth Services confirmed that another assault had happened.
We can confirm a youth on staff assault at Indian River today, and two youth 18 years of age were involved. State troopers were notified and reported to the facility to begin a criminal investigation. The employee was transported by an EMS for an evaluation.
Ohio Civil Services Employee Association Director of Communications, Mike Rowe, said the organization heard a teacher was struck by a hammer and taken to the hospital on Tuesday.
A former Indian River Juvenile Correctional Facility worker we spoke to asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. They said current employees have provided them with the same information.
"I heard that two youth from Bravo units assaulted a teacher in the classroom. He was talking about how to use a hammer and these two youth had planned to assault someone. They picked him. They were punching him and then got a hold of some hammers and started beating him in the head with the hammers," the former employee said.
They allege the assault happened in a woodshop class around 2:30 p.m.
This former employee said they knew the staff member who was assaulted on Tuesday.
"He was fair. He got along with his coworkers and tried to get along with the youth. He liked doing his job and he did try to help them with learning a career or a trade. I don't understand why they would have picked him to assault him. Most staff there are very helpful and do care. They just don't have back up from administration or the director," they said.
I asked them what the protocol is supposed to entail when an inmate assaults a staff member.
"They call a signal 88. I'm not sure if he had time to do that or even if he did it. Then, staff would come try to break them up. Normally they would just take the youth to their room and seclude them for the amount of time they should be secluded, which now is not very long," they said. "I think they should be in their rooms for seclusion for days at a time, not a half hour or an hour as this administration wants now."
Since the former employee left their post at Indian River, they said the facility has gone downhill.
"Under this superintendent and the new director, it's chaotic. The youth run the facility and staff have no say," they told me on Tuesday, which has allegedly allowed for staff assaults to become normal. "If staff restrain a youth and [the facility administration] doesn't feel like it was the proper way to restrain a youth, then those staff get under investigation. Amy Ast [the facility's director] doesn't want them to use the OC spray on the youth. It's all to protect the youth, not the staff."
They said they were assaulted while on the job at Indian River.
"[I felt] traumatized not feeling backed up by staff in the facility. I was made to feel like I didn't matter. And the PTSD of it, I don't even like people being behind me now. I always watch my surroundings since the assault," they said. "It's been long. It's been a journey."
They said, as in every assault on staff case she's heard about, the facility's leadership asks what those staff members could have done to prevent the attack or how it could have been handled differently.
"It's very demeaning to be an employee of someone asking you that," they said.
While this former staff member said the number of employees being assaulted by youth inmates is rising this year, they don't think the facility should be shut down.
"There are a lot of staff that work there that do good for the youth and help them. There's just no structure and they don't let the staff have that structure," they stated. "I think [facility administration] needs to go in the facility and run the units and really see what's going on in there and know what it feels like to be afraid to go to work, be assaulted and then be blamed and put under investigation for your assault."
The former employee provided a list of several employee names that have allegedly been assaulted this year. The Department of Youth Services said it is working to provide us with the latest numbers.
We'll follow through.
