Criminal charges have not been filed in connection with the stabbing of four inmates, including one fatally, at the city’s Curran-Fromhold Correction Facility in Holmesburg on June 21.
A melee broke out in the prison’s housing unit C.2.2 at about 9:30 p.m. Correctional officers responded to the disturbance but did not use force, according to Bob Eskind, the public information officer for the Philadelphia Prison System. No officer injuries were reported.
When the dust settled, officers found Earl Gene Bostic, 42, of the 6200 block of Reedland St. in Southwest Philadelphia, with multiple puncture wounds of the chest and neck. He was taken to Aria Health-Frankford and pronounced dead at 10:27 p.m.
Authorities did not release the names of the other wounded inmates, two age 24 and one who is 28. Two were taken to Hahnemann University Hospital in stable condition, treated and released. Another was treated at the prison’s in-house medical facility.
Bostic had been incarcerated since Jan. 1 while awaiting trial on robbery and firearms charges. Among the other injured inmates, one awaits trial on murder and aggravated assault charges, one awaits trial on a robbery charge and one awaits trial in two separate attempted murder cases.
Earlier on the day of the attacks, prison officers had conducted a search of the cellblock for weapons and contraband, Eskind said. During the afternoon “shakedown,” officers seized two homemade weapons — also known as “shanks” — along with seven dime-sized bags containing suspected marijuana. The suspected drugs were found in the officers’ rest room, according to the prison spokesman.
Among 32 other cellblock shakedowns that were performed prison-wide in the week before the attacks, two were done in housing unit C.2.2 on separate days.
It is not known what weapon or weapons were used in the killing and assaults or what circumstances prompted the attacks. Authorities have not released the names of any suspects.
At the time of the stabbings, inmates on the cellblock were in a common area known as the day room, where they can watch television or do other activities.
About 96 inmates are typically housed in the cellblock, while the prison has about 2,900 inmates on any given day. The prison remained in a restricted movement status on Monday, while housing unit C.2.2 remained in a no-visits status.
Bostic was the first inmate killed inside the city’s prisons since March 22, 2009, Eskind said.
Officers from the prison system and the Philadelphia police’s homicide unit continue to investigate the case. ••
