An Alaska prison inmate is in an Anchorage hospital tonight, according to Alaska State Troopers following an assault by a fellow inmate. The alleged assault happened on Friday evening. A corrections officer at Spring Creek Correctional Center in Seward called it in.
Troopers say Jason Rak, 25, assaulted another inmate, Forrest Ahvakana, 48. Trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters says Ahvakana was beaten, but it is not certain if a weapon was used. Peters says Troopers believe the attack was planned.
Kaci Schroeder, spokesperson for the state Department of Corrections, did not return calls, but Brad Wilson, with the Alaska Correctional Officers Association, says the incident is indicative of understaffing at state corrections institutions
Spring Creek has had previous disturbances. In October of 2012, inmates assaulted a corrections officer, and in August of this year, more than a dozen inmates faced disciplinary action after they destroyed toilets and sinks in their cells.
APTI Reporter-Producer Ellen Lockyer started her radio career in the late 1980s, after a stint at bush Alaska weekly newspapers, the Copper Valley Views and the Cordova Times. When the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Valdez Public Radio station KCHU needed a reporter, and Ellen picked up the microphone.
Since then, she has literally traveled the length of the state, from Attu to Eagle and from Barrow to Juneau, covering Alaska stories on the ground for the AK show, Alaska News Nightly, the Alaska Morning News and for Anchorage public radio station, KSKA
elockyer (at) alaskapublic (dot) org | 907.550.8446 | About Ellen
