Inmate attacks guards at Peoria County Jail

BELLEVUE, Ill. — An inmate who was part of Illinois’ secret early release program has attacked three guards at the Peoria County Jail.

Authorities say Edjuan Payne was being transferred from his cell when he attacked a sergeant.

The (Peoria) Journal Star reports that two other jail staffers were injured.

Thursday was to be Payne’s last day in Peoria before being transferred to the corrections department intake in Joliet.

Payne’s case attracted statewide attention after it was revealed that he’d been part of an unpublicized program to free up prison space by cutting state sentences to weeks or days. He was serving time for criminal damage to property when he got out in 2009 under the early release program.

He was sentenced last week to life in prison for a 2010 killing.