Former Waterbury Mayor Assaulted In Prison

By Andrew Gorosko

While participating in a cellblock recreation period at the high-security Garner Correctional Institution on Nunnawauk Road last weekend, Philip Giordano, 43, the former Waterbury mayor who is serving a 37-year federal prison sentence on convictions for sex crimes, was assaulted by another Garner inmate.

State police said inmate Ivan Acevedo, 39, assaulted Giordano. The incident occurred about 1:30 pm on November 25. Acevedo had placed a number of AA-size batteries inside a sock and then struck Giordano in the head with the device, according to authorities.

State Department of Correction (DOC) spokeswoman Stacy Smith said November 28 that prison medical staff checked Giordano after the incident, adding that he did not require transport to a hospital for treatment.

Ms Smith termed the incident a “minor assault.”

State police charged Acevedo with second-degree assault, which is a felony. Acevedo was arraigned on the charge November 27 in Danbury Superior Court.

Both state police and the DOC are investigating the incident, Ms Smith said. Both Giordano and Acevedo are considered “general population” prisoners at Garner, she said.

The large majority of Garner inmates are mental health prisoners who are incarcerated there to receive specialized psychiatric care.

Acevedo, of Waterbury, is serving a three-year sentence in Garner on a sexual assault conviction.

Giordano was convicted in March 2003 on federal sex charges. A federal jury found Giordano guilty of violating the civil rights of two preteen girls by forcing them to perform sex acts. Giordano is appealing that conviction.

Giordano is being held at Garner because he is awaiting trial in the state court system on multiple sex charges.

Giordano was Waterbury’s mayor for almost six years. His tenure ended in 2001, when he was arrested on the federal sex charges. Giordano, a Republican, unsuccessfully ran for US Senate in 2000 against Senator Joseph Lieberman.