ORLANDO, Fla. – Orlando Regional Medical Center will now serve meals on foam plates for patients under legal or correctional restrictions, hospital officials announced.
ORMC will now only serve finger foods based on dietary needs to inmates receiving treatment, eliminating the use of plastic and metal cutlery.
The medical facility was prompted to change its policy after 26-year-old Asniel Pino del Risco, an inmate at the Orange County Corrections Department, attacked an officer using a ceramic dinner plate, Orlando Sentinel reports.
Pino del Risco was receiving treatment in a cancer unit on July 9, when he lunged at Corrections Officer Suzette Smith after dinner arrived and started to hit her on the head.
During the attack, a hospital employee returned to the room with plastic silverware for the inmate. She immediately ran for help, and soon another corrections officer and hospital security guards secured the patient.
Smith suffered serious facial injuries as well as a gash across her forehead. She was treated and released from ORMC on July 10.
Pino del Risco has been charged with attempted murder and aggravated battery on a corrections officer.
