The convicted killer of a Providence police detective also got in a fight with his cellmate, ACI officials say.

01:00 AM EDT on Saturday, July 15, 2006

BY ELIZABETH GUDRAIS
Journal Staff Writer

Esteban Carpio, who's awaiting sentencing on a first-degree murder conviction for killing a Providence police detective last year, was disciplined last week after prison officials found a razor blade in his cell.

A corrections officer found a blade from a disposable razor, still encased in its plastic housing but missing the handle, in Carpio's cell during a routine inspection, Department of Corrections spokeswoman Tracey Poole said.

"We have no way of knowing what his intentions were," Poole said, "but whenever someone alters something like that, it's not with good intentions."

Although the prison uses special tamper-proof razors, she said, "obviously they're not 100 percent foolproof."

Poole said inmates are not normally allowed to have razors in their cells other than during specified grooming periods, after which the razors are collected. She said prison officials don't know how the razor blade came into Carpio's possession.

Carpio's punishment for possessing the blade -- which was found July 6 -- and for getting into a fight with his cellmate the next day: 50 additional days in what the Adult Correctional Institutions calls disciplinary confinement.

At this point, the punishment's meaning is largely academic. ACI officials have charged Carpio with a total of 28 infractions since his arrival there in April 2005, and he has accumulated more than four years in disciplinary confinement.

While the punishment carries severely limited privileges -- for instance, inmates in disciplinary confinement cannot have visitors or make telephone calls other than to their lawyers.

Carpio has periodically had a cellmate during his time at the ACI, but will be a cell by himself indefinitely after last week's incidents, Poole said.

Carpio was charged with assaulting the other inmate, but no serious injury occurred, Poole said.

Carpio's most serious infraction occurred 10 days after his arrival at the ACI. Prison officials and the state police say he assaulted two corrections officers, leaving one with a broken jaw.

Carpio was cited for being disruptive -- yelling and making noise -- on June 2, Poole said.

Carpio, 27, was convicted two weeks ago of murdering Detective Sgt. James L. Allen at Providence police headquarters April 16, 2005.

egudrais@projo.com / (401) 277-7045