A prisoner already serving a life sentence for attempted murder is facing another attempted murder charge after authorities say he stabbed an officer at the Dade Correctional Institution.
The attack happened just after 12:30 a.m. Monday inside the G-Dormitory of the prison on SW 377th Street, south of Florida City, according to an arrest report.
A Florida Department of Corrections investigator wrote that the officer saw 44-year-old Jarvis Fortson outside his cell and went to put him back in. Officials said Fortson, who has been in state prison since 2001 after convictions in Gadsden County, became verbally hostile and then rushed out of the cell. He attacked the officer with a homemade shank, stabbing him several times along the left side of his torso.
The officer grabbed Fortson’s hand to stop the assault until backup arrived. Medical staff at the prison treated the officer before he was airlifted to Jackson South Medical Center as a trauma patient.
At the hospital, the officer told investigators that Fortson had warned him he would “regret it” if he closed and secured his cell door.
Fortson later told investigators he heard a voice telling him to “kill him” during his interaction with the officer and claimed he blacked out before the stabbing.
As of Tuesday morning, Fortson was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami-Dade County. He now faces additional charges of attempted murder, resisting with violence, and weapons possession.
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