Aroostook County Jail Inmate Charged in Attack

A 20-year-old Caribou man is charged with attacking two corrections officers at the Aroostook County Jail in Houlton.

According to Chief Deputy Darrell Crandall, a corrections officer noticed a cell window blocked with paper late Monday afternoon. When the officer entered the cell to investigate he found the inmate Anthony Griffin with a towel wrapped around his neck, apparently trying to choke himself.

Crandall said when the guard tried to intervene, Griffin jumped him, punching and kicking him in the face. A second officer rushed to help the first guard and was also punched, choked and scratched. The officers quickly restrained Griffin and removed him to the segregation area of the jail. The officers sustained minor injuries but the inmate was not injured.

On Tuesday, a Sheriff’s detective completed a criminal investigation and charged Griffin with two counts of Assault on a Corrections Officer, a Class C felony offense.

Griffin had just been released from the county jail on September 24th after being an inmate there since February. Caribou Police arrested him six days later on charges of burglary, theft and violation of conditions of release.

Crandall said Griffin had only been back in the facility for about four hours when this incident occurred. If convicted in the attacks, he faces up to five years in prison.