Inmate charged with assaulting two fellow inmates
May 31—State police arrested a Providence, R.I., man on Wednesday in connection with two different assaults, one on a fellow prisoner during transport to court and another at the Corrigan Correctional Center in Montville.
Police said John Coutu, 37, was being transported by Judicial Marshals in a van from Corrigan to Norwich Superior Court on Wednesday when he attacked a 50-year-old Plainfield man, who was also being taken from prison to court.
Police said the victim, who is charged in the sexual assault of an underage victim, sustained injuries to his head and face and was taken for treatment at Backus Hospital in Norwich.
Coutu, at the time was being held on the charge of violation of a protective order, was additionally charged by warrant with second-degree assault for an incident at Corrigan on Dec. 20, 2023. Police said Coutu attacked a fellow inmate, punching him repeatedly in the face and throwing him against a bed frame. The victim in that case suffered multiple fractures to his sinus cavity, an eye swollen shut and his lower leg swollen and bruised. When questioned about the prison assault, police said Coutu attacked the man because he was a "pedophile."
