{"id":359417,"date":"2026-06-13T15:55:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T15:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/359417\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T15:55:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T15:55:13","slug":"california-prison-worker-sues-over-vicious-attack-as-she-shows-her-life-altering-injuries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/359417\/","title":{"rendered":"California prison worker sues over vicious attack as she shows her life-altering injuries"},"content":{"rendered":"

A California prison kitchen supervisor is suing after she was allegedly attacked inside a walk-in freezer by an inmate in a violent incident<\/a> that prosecutors say left her with life-altering injuries.<\/p>\n

The alleged assault happened on Aug. 10, 2025 inside the kitchen freezer at the California Institute for Men in Chino, according to claims presented at a news conference connected to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Attorneys allege the inmate, who was serving time for assault with a deadly weapon<\/a>, attempted to sexually assault the supervisor before stabbing her in the neck.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A woman with a stitched laceration and scratches on her neck, lying in a hospital bed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s really no words that can describe what happened. I thought I lost my sister,\u201d the victim\u2019s sister said at a press conference.<\/p>\n

Lawyers say the inmate should never have been assigned to work in the kitchen, where he allegedly had access to knives and other dangerous tools.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The alleged assault happened on Aug. 10, 2025 inside the kitchen freezer at the California Institute for Men in Chino.<\/p>\n

Attorney Denisse Gastelum said the placement decision put staff at unnecessary risk and should have been prevented.<\/p>\n

Gastelum also blasted prison staff, accusing a correctional officer of failing to monitor the encounter despite being warned that the supervisor and inmate would be entering an isolated area together.<\/p>\n

\u201cLetting him know, hey, I\u2019m going to go into the freezer now with this prisoner. Watch me, have my back, supervise me. None of which he did,\u201d Gastelum said at the press conference.<\/p>\n

\"Sign<\/p>\n

Sign for the California Institution for Men, State Prison Chino Alamy Stock Photo<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A corrections officer walks past a California Institution for Men sign, a guard tower, and barbed wire fences. Corbis via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The lawsuit alleges that when the attack began, it wasn\u2019t prison staff who rushed to help \u2014 it was fellow inmates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to make sure that we are clear on this. It was other prisoners that had to come to Jane Doe\u2019s rescue while the correctional officer stayed there neglecting his duties,\u201d Gastelum said.<\/p>\n

Attorney Toni Jaramilla questioned why the inmate was assigned to work in the kitchen in the first place and why additional safeguards were not in place.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy was it that a known felon who attacks women was placed in an area where there are kitchen tools with knives and other weapons,\u201d Jaramilla said at the presser. \u201cWhy was he placed there?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy wasn\u2019t there a correctional officer, maybe more than one, that will make sure Jane Doe is safe when she walks to the freezer to obtain items for the day? Why?\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The California Department of Corrections has declined to comment on the allegations, citing the ongoing litigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A California prison kitchen supervisor is suing after she was allegedly attacked inside a walk-in freezer by an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[83118,27184,7,9,89540,8,89744,146289,146288],"class_list":["post-359417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-abc7-eyewitness-news","tag-alleged-assault","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-institution-for-men","tag-california-news","tag-correction-officer","tag-denisse-gastelum","tag-kitchen-supervisor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}