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Prison guard sliced by inmate

An inmate at the Philadelphia House of Correction sliced a female prison guard in the face with a 4-inch piece of metal earlier today.

An inmate at the Philadelphia House of Correction sliced a female prison guard in the face with a 4-inch piece of metal earlier today.

Prison Commissioner Lou Giorla said the guard was attacked about 2 p.m. while she patrolled a cell block in the general population area. "She had received a laceration to the face from an unruly inmate with a homemade weapon," Giorla said. "Thank God she wasn't seriously injured."

Giorla said it was unclear why the prisoner, whose name wasn't released, attacked the guard.

Lorenzo North, the president of the Prison Guards Union Local 159, identified the guard as Natasha Bryant, 32.  Bryant  received "stitches below her eye" at Jeanes Hospital, North said. She's worked at the House of Correction, on State Road in Northeast Philadelphia, for about a year. "Our job is dangerous, but people don't realize it. If I'd call you up every time one of our officers got hurt, I'd be calling every day," he added.