A 27-year-old Houston resident, Melvin Jones, was sentenced on July 28 in Corpus Christi, Texas, for forcibly assaulting a federal correctional officer. Jones pleaded guilty on April 16 to the charge.
U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos ordered Jones to serve two years in federal prison, consecutive to his existing sentence. The sentence will be immediately followed by two years of supervised release. During the hearing, the court heard evidence that Jones had been involved in three additional altercations with other inmates since entering his plea of guilty.
The incident occurred in 2025 at Three Rivers Federal Correctional Institution. On September 25 of that year, a federal correctional officer attempted to search Jones after suspecting he possessed a contraband cell phone. When the officer tried to retrieve it, Jones resisted and repeatedly punched the officer in the head and neck. Other officers intervened and restrained Jones. The victim sustained abrasions and soreness to his head and neck.
Jones has been and will remain in custody following this latest sentencing. The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation into the incident, while Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ashley Martin and Patrick Overman prosecuted the case.
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas focuses on prosecuting federal crimes and handling civil cases for the government; it employs more than 200 attorneys across offices in Houston, Galveston, Corpus Christi, Laredo, McAllen and Brownsville while covering 43 counties with a population exceeding nine million, according to its official website. The office is part of the U.S. Department of Justice under the Attorney General’s authority.