A former inmate at a Lawton prison is accused of stabbing another man in the back nine times while the two waited in line to receive meals, according to court records. Pedro Fuentes, 47, now faces a felony arrest warrant stemming from the attack, which left the other inmate hospitalized for his injuries.
The Comanche County District Court issued the felony warrant on Oct. 30, charging Fuentes with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and possession of weapons by an inmate, as reported by The Lawton Constitution. According to the warrant affidavit, the other inmate was hospitalized and treated for injuries sustained in the stabbing. Fuentes was reportedly transferred to the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester following the incident.
A Record That Raises the Stakes
The assault and battery with a dangerous weapon charge alone carries a possible sentence of up to 40 years in prison, court records show, a penalty driven largely by Fuentes' criminal history. He has four prior felony convictions, including a 2002 Comanche County case for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, a 2005 Comanche County conviction for trafficking in illegal drugs and possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute, and a 2020 Canadian County conviction for aggravated trafficking in illegal drugs.
Those prior convictions are what push the potential sentence so high under the charge, the outlet's report notes, since repeat felony offenders in Oklahoma face steeper maximum penalties than first-time defendants. The possession of weapons by an inmate charge adds a separate count to the case.
Oklahoma's Broader Prison Violence Picture
The alleged stabbing comes amid ongoing scrutiny of violence inside Oklahoma's prison system. The Oklahoma Department of Corrections has said inmate-on-inmate assaults resulting in serious injury have significantly decreased, crediting reforms such as strategic population management, stricter enforcement policies, and enhanced technology.
That claimed progress stands alongside separate findings reported by The Oklahoman, which found that new state data showed recent homicides in Oklahoma prisons were twice as high as previously reported. The same report found the number of homicides puts Oklahoma near the top of the region in inmate killings. Neither of those broader findings is presented as directly comparable to the Fuentes case, which remains at the warrant stage with no conviction or final disposition reported.
