An Indianapolis man will spend 16 more years in state prison for stabbing an inmate on Christmas Day 2019 at the Johnson County jail.
Joshua Medcalf, 31, pleaded guilty to an aggravated battery charge stemming from a Dec. 25, 2019 incident at the county jail in which he stabbed a fellow inmate with the sharpened end of a broom handle in the head and upper body, according to a Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office news release.
Medcalf, as part of the plea agreement, is also required to reimburse the jail for the victim’s medical expenses, according to the news release.
Medcalf did not receive any jail credits for time served, and will have to serve the 16 years after he finishes serving sentences for escape and violating parole on a burglary case. He is imprisoned at the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility.
Video captured Medcalf during the early morning hours in the common area of his cell block approaching a fellow inmate from behind. The victim was on a video call at the time. Medcalf could be seen removing the broom handle from his waistband and striking the victim with it repeatedly.
The victim was able to get the broom handle away from Medcalf, and other inmates who heard the commotion kept the two separated until corrections officers arrived, according to the news release.
The victim suffered multiple lacerations to his head, neck and shoulders which required staples and sutures to repair, the news release said.
Medcalf told detectives he did not know the victim personally, but had targeted him because he wanted to get sent back to prison. He had considered targeting corrections officers instead, he said.
He had been in the county jail for exactly two months at the time. He was arrested Oct. 25, 2019 on charges of violating parole and failure to return to lawful attention, according to jail records.
“The sheriff and his administration do an exemplary job working to maintain a jail environment as safe as possible for both offenders and jail staff. When an inmate like Medcalf commits a violent crime of this magnitude, I will do everything within my legal authority to hold such a person fully accountable,” prosecutor Joe Villanueva said in the news release. “Mr. Medcalf wanted to go back to prison, and I am happy to have done my part to help fulfill that wish.”
