Mario Powell Sentenced to 97 Months in Prison for Assaulting Corrections Officer

A brazen attack on a corrections officer at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City has resulted in a severe sentence for the perpetrator. Mario Powell, 34, of the Bronx, New York, was sentenced to 97 months in prison for assaulting a corrections officer with a deadly and dangerous weapon on May 30, 2020.

According to the allegations contained in the Indictment and the evidence presented during the trial, Powell forcibly assaulted a corrections officer with a deadly and dangerous weapon, lacerating the officer’s neck. In order to commit the attack, Powell obtained and possessed a weapon made of razor blades.

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, praised the sentence, stating, ‘Mario Powell brazenly ambushed a corrections officer at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City, trying to slit his throat. This sentence shows that violence in our corrections facilities will trigger meaningful consequences.’

In addition to the prison term, Powell was sentenced to three years of supervised release.

The case is being handled by the Office’s General Crimes Unit, with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas John Wright, Henry L. Ross, and Leslie B. Arffa in charge of the prosecution.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation was also commended for their outstanding investigative work in the case. Former MCC staff were thanked for their assistance in bringing the perpetrator to justice.

Mario Powell, 34, of the Bronx, New York, was convicted of assaulting a corrections officer with a deadly and dangerous weapon and possession of prison contraband following a five-day trial before U.S. District Judge John P. Cronan in September 2025.

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