Officer Held Hostage in Texas Hospital

An 11-year veteran CO was held hostage for 10 hours at Memorial Hospital in Palestine, Texas, in February, when an inmate who had been hospitalized for heart problems overpowered him and held him with a sharp metal object at his throat.

The incident started just before 9 a.m., when the inmate slipped out of his restraints in the intensive care unit and held officer Phillip Berryhill hostage until about 7 p.m. Berryhill is a member of AFSCME Local 3806 in Palestine.

Earlier, the inmate-serving a 15-year sentence for possession of heroin-had seized a nurse, who had been able to free herself before he took Berryhill hostage.

The officer was released unharmed after the arrival of the inmate's lawyer and his sister from El Paso. They reportedly convinced him to surrender.

Texas prison officials described the incident as a "wake-up call." The Texas Department of Criminal Justice had already put into place proven security measures in its prison hospital in Galveston. Those same security measures will now be in place for handling inmate visits to "free world" medical facilities such as Memorial Hospital.

Prison officials faulted the unit that delivered the inmate to the hospital for not sufficiently informing the officers at the hospital that for several reasons the inmate required special precautions: he had a history of psychiatric illnesses, he had tried to escape before and that he was a known member of the prison gang, "Mexican Mafia."

AFSCME COs from the Huntsville and Gatesville Locals contributed $300 to Brother Berryhill.