Ernesto Monell, Possession of Homemade Shank, Rhode Island 2013

A federal court jury in Providence convicted Ernesto Monell, 36, of Taunton, Mass., of possessing a makeshift weapon while incarcerated at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls, R.I., announced United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha and United States Marshal Jamie A. Hainsworth.

On August 16, 2013, correctional officers at the Wyatt Detention Facility observed a disturbance involving numerous detainees attacking each other, during which Monell was seen attacking two or more detainees using a homemade shank. The disturbance was recorded on the facility’s video surveillance system, which was introduced as evidence and played for the jury.

According to the government’s evidence, the correctional staff brought the situation under control using chemical spray, and Monell suffered injuries to his hand consistent with holding a makeshift type weapon. A search of the L-Pod was undertaken and a makeshift weapon/shank was recovered from a second-tier waste can.

A correctional officer who first observed the disturbance identified the item as the weapon Monell was using to carry out his assaults. Detainees who were seen on the video being struck by Monell were examined and found to have puncture and scratch-like injuries consistent with having been inflicted by the shank.

At the time of the incident, Monell was detained at the Wyatt Detention Facility on a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.

Monell is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith on September 12, 2014. Possession of contraband in prison is punishable by a statutory penalty up to 3 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. William J. Ferland. The matter was investigated by the Wyatt Detention Center Investigative Unit, with the assistance of the United States Marshals Service.

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