KINGSTON – An inmate at the Ulster County Jail has been charged with felony second-degree assault in connection with an attack on another inmate.

The Ulster County Sheriff’s Office said Richard Harrison, 26, of New Paltz, was charged early Thursday with striking another inmate in the face, breaking his nose. The victim was treated and released at a local hospital.

This is but the latest in a series of assaults and other arrests of inmates and visitors at the Ulster County Jail over the last several months.

District Attorney Holley Carnright takes all of the jailhouse incidents very seriously.  He said he investigates all crime whether it be inmate on inmate or inmate on corrections officer.

“We find that fairly often the inmate on inmate assaults are a difficult prosecution because the people involved are reluctant to cooperate and also there are sometimes issues with regard to self-defense when there is no weapon used,” Carnright said.

In the Harrison case, he is currently in jail on an unrelated DWI charge. He will face that charge in Kingston City Court at a later date.