Florida prison officer stabbed in ambush

A corrections officer was ambushed and stabbed Monday morning at Columbia Correctional Institution, the Miami Herald has learned.

Sources told the Herald that the officer, Shane Biancaniello, 41, was airlifted to a local hospital. Columbia is in Lake City, in Central Florida.

Alberto Moscoso, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Corrections, said the officer suffered "superficial" wounds and is expected to be released from the hospital by the end of the day. Two other officers suffered minor injuries.

The institution remains on lockdown.

Sources said Biancaniello was jumped by an inmate, Joseph Simms, who was armed with a shank-type weapon. The officer was stabbed several times in the head and neck, sources said.

The stabbing comes as many prisons are at critical staffing levels, with officers working long hours of overtime to cover shifts. Secretary Julie Jones has acknowledged for months that state prisons are dangerously understaffed. And, a recent audit, said most prison guards

On Friday, the agency announced that it would recruit 4,000 new officers in an effort to beef up security in the nation's third-largest prison system.

The move, at a time when officers routinely work 12-hour shifts, is part of an ongoing effort to clean up the state's prisons, which have been in the spotlight for allegations of brutal treatment of inmates, who have died in record numbers over the past two years. In addition, smuggling of contraband -- including illicit drugs, cigarettes and cellphones -- by corrupt officers has fueled more violence, particularly among inmate gangs.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

This story was originally published April 4, 2016 at 3:14 PM with the headline "Florida prison officer stabbed in ambush ."