Connecticut prison guard charged with assaulting elderly inmate over cookies

A corrections officer in southeast Connecticut is facing an assault charge for allegedly using excessive force against a 66-year-old inmate who took cookies from a cafeteria, officials said Thursday.
Todd Blevons, 43, of Uncasville, turned himself into authorities on Wednesday after a warrant was issued for his arrest stemming from a November 2023 incident at the Corrigan Correctional Center in Montville.
Authorities say a man housed at the facility alleged he was “thrown to the ground and injured for no reason” during a post-meal patdown, according to a police report obtained by local station WTNH.
During the search, Blevons allegedly found some cookies the man had taken from the cafeteria, which wasn’t allowed.
When the inmate lowered his hands from the wall, thinking the search had ended, the guard became upset and violent, the inmate told investigators. He claims Blevons jumped on him, forced him onto the ground and even used pepper spray on him.
When other officers showed up to assist Blevons, they jumped on top of the victim who was handcuffed while on the floor, NBC Connecticut reported.
The man said the violent confrontation left him with eight stitches on his face as well as broken ribs, though state police said photographs only show a “superficial injury” on his face.
However, video of the incident shows Blevons punching in the inmate, hitting him in the back with his knee and pepper-spraying him in the face.
Blevons, who was hired as a corrections office in 2018, is currently on administrative leave, according to the New Haven Daily Voice.
He was arrested Wednesday and charged with assault in the third degree on an elderly person. He was released after posting a $25,000 bond and is expected back in court early December.