The union that represents state correction officers is questioning why it took two years for a Lancaster state prison inmate with a history of assaulting law enforcement to be charged for allegedly punching a correction officer in the face.
John F. Mentor, a former Boston man still facing charges related to a separate 2020 attack at the same Lancaster prison, Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center, was charged in August for an assault that allegedly happened in 2024.
"[We] call this delay outrageous," the Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union wrote in a statement to the Telegram & Gazette, adding that Mentor was "only charged after [our] legal counsel … questioned the Department of Correction (DOC) about the status of the case."
"What this lack of action says to Correction Officers across the state is that your employer, the DOC, does not care about you and the job you do to keep prisons secure and safe," the union wrote.
The Department of Correction had not, as of 5 p.m. Sept. 1, fulfilled a request for comment lodged at 10 a.m.
Mentor, who was convicted of firing a gun at two Boston police officers in 2009, was one of 16 Souza-Baranowski inmates charged in a serious attack in 2020 that sent four correction officers to the hospital.
In his new case, he is accused of punching a correction officer in the face on Sept. 11, 2024, at Souza-Baranowski, the state's only maximum-security prison, while exiting a recreation area.
"Staff utilized physical force to subdue inmate Mentor and secure him into wrist and leg restraints," a Department of Correction program officer wrote in Clinton District Court documents, adding that the officer who was struck, a sergeant, sought outside medical treatment for swelling to his face and jaw.
A charge of assault and battery on a correction employee against Mentor was entered into court records Aug. 19, records show. He is set to be arraigned Sept. 10.
Mentor is still awaiting trial on the 2020 case, in which a group of inmates could be seen on video punching and kicking correction officers.
Mentor is still facing seven charges in Worcester Superior Court – including kidnapping and two counts of assault and battery causing serious bodily injury – in that case, which does not yet appear to have a trial date.
The correction officers union in its statement questioned the length of time the case has taken. Court records suggest COVID-19 delays, attorney turnover and years of pretrial motions regarding multiple defendants have contributed to the delay.
The Jan. 10, 2020, assault, in addition to criminal charges against inmates, resulted in a lawsuit alleging correction officers retaliated against prisoners with a retribution campaign that included beatings and acts of "positional torture."
The DOC and the prisoners agreed to a $6.75 million settlement in 2025 that included reforms that prisoner rights groups have called promising.
The Boston Herald reported last month that at least six inmates charged in the Jan. 10, 2020, assault received payments from the settlement, based on a partial list of awardees it obtained.
Mentor was not among the six inmates the Herald named as being paid. The state has refused to give the Herald the full list, citing privacy concerns, the newspaper reported.
The payments drew criticism from state Rep. Michael Soter, R-Bellingham, who told the Herald they were "unbelievable," as well as from the Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union, which called them a "disgrace" and asserted Souza-Baranowski was "less safe" than it was in 2020.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Union rips state for taking 2 years to charge inmate with assault