Officer stabbed at Correctional Training Facility, suspect identified

A correctional officer at the Correctional Training Facility, in Soledad, was attacked by an inmate he was escorting back to his cell, Friday morning.

The CDCR says the attack happened at around 9:15 a.m.

36-year-old Michael Ellison has been identified as the inmate suspect. He’s since been transferred to the next door Salinas Valley State Prison as the investigation continues.

Prison officials tell KION that Ellison attacked the staff member with an “inmate-manufactured weapon,” striking him multiple times in the face and body. The officer suffered cuts to his forehead, right thigh and left hand. He was taken to an outside hospital, but is expected to fully recover.

A CDCR release writes that responding prison staff used physical force and pepper spray to subdue the Ellison. He was not injured.

Charges against Ellison are pending the investigation, which will try to find out how Ellison managed to create the weapon used in the attack.

Ellison has a lengthy criminal history, in and out of prison. He has been serving a life-with-the-possibility-of-parole sentence from Riverside County for second-degree murder, since 2004. The CDCR says he’s been convicted in Kern and Kings counties during his incarceration for crimes including possession/manufacture of a deadly weapon by a prisoner and assault by a prisoner with a deadly weapon.

Ellison is currently on trial for allegedly killing another inmate in 2018 at the Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad. He is accused of attacking 42-year-old Jason Lewis.

At this time, officials say they don’t know if Friday’s attack was linked to any recent riots at the prison.