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Rough waters for WVC Class 3A swimmers on opening day of PIAA Swimming and Diving championships

More Luzerne County Democrats switching to Republican registration for the upcoming primary election

<p>SCRANTON &#8212; An inmate at U.S. Penitentiary Canaan who slashed another inmate in the face with a razor blade fastened to a tooth brush was sentenced to 80 months in federal prison, the U.S. Attorney&#8217;s Office announced Wednesday.</p><p>Efrain Rodriguez, 43, was sentenced after previously pleading guilty to the assault in July, prosecutors said.</p><p>Rodriguez, who at the time of the attack was serving a sentence on a 2014 firearms conviction, attempted to get rid of the evidence after he flushed the shank down the toilet following the attack, prosecutors said. The victim suffered wounds on both cheeks and was left scarred and disfigured from the attack, according to prosecutors.</p><p>In an unrelated case, Canaan inmate Brandon Shields was indicted by a grand jury Tuesday in another assault against a fellow inmate that occurred on Jan. 7, according to prosecutors. Shields, 33, of Philadelphia, was charged with assault after he also attacked a fellow inmate with a homemade weapon, prosecutors said.</p><p>The Wayne County prison has seen its share of violent attacks in the past.</p><p>In 2013, corrections officer and Nanticoke native Eric Williams was stabbed and beaten to death by convicted killer Jessie Con-ui. A federal law named after Williams that allows corrections officers to carry non-lethal pepper spray was <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/local/520312/obama-signs-protective-law-named-for-slain-corrections-officer-eric-williams" target="_blank">signed into law</a> by President Barack Obama March 10.</p><p>Con-ui is scheduled to face trial on first-degree murder charges in September.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Joe Dolinsky</p><p>jdolinsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Joe Dolinsky at 570-991-6110 or on Twitter @JoeDolinskyTL</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Violence at USP Canaan prompts 80-month sentence, assault charge for pair of attackers