Riots at the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution in southeastern Nebraska have caused extensive damage to the facility. At least four homicides have been reported there in the last year. On Friday, the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office announced first-degree murder charges against the cellmate of a man who was fatally attacked last week in the facility.
Patrick Schroeder, 39, also faces one count of use of a deadly weapon in the death of 22-year-old Terry Berry, who was found unresponsive in his cell April 15. According to the Attorney General, an autopsy showed Berry had been strangled. Schroeder is already serving a life prison term for the 2006 murder of a 75-year-old man from Pawnee City, Ne. Berry was scheduled for release in December, and had a parole hearing next month. He was serving three to four years for felony forgery and a jail assault conviction from Platte County, Ne.
On April 21, three staff members were assaulted by an inmate at the Tecumseh facility. In a news release, NDCS said staff members were moving several inmates who appeared to be under the influence of homemade alcohol. One inmate was standing with his hands crossed in front of him when a corporal approached him and told him he was going to place handcuffs on him. At that moment the inmate turned and swung at the corporal, who was knocked to the ground and received contusions to his head.
A union leader representing Nebraska correctional officers says a prison with a history of deadly riots would see less violence if employees didn’t have to work as much overtime. The executive director of the Nebraska Association of Public Employees, Mike Marvin, says workers are forced to stay on the job for overtime shifts at the Tecumseh prison because of staffing shortages. He says that as a result, many employees are tired and less alert when threats arise. Marvin says the staffing shortages have persisted because the Department of Correctional Services isn’t paying enough to keep experienced employees. Some leave for better-paying jobs in county jails.
The inmate moved across the room and assaulted another corporal who was restraining another inmate. The corporal suffered contusions to the head, required five stitches and received a chipped tooth and another was knocked loose. Staff responded and used OC spray to stop the assault and subdue the inmate. As they were attempting to restrain the inmate, he bit a caseworker in the thigh. The two corporals were treated and released from Johnson County Hospital. The caseworker did not seek outside medical care.
This incident was isolated to one inmate and did not require the unit to be locked down. The facility was reported to be operating normally.
Corrections director Scott Frakes has acknowledged that overtime is a problem for the department, even though it’s commonly used.