Inmate charged after allegedly striking fellow inmate in eyes with pen

A female inmate was awaiting a court appearance when she allegedly got up, picked up a pen and stabbed another female inmate in the eye multiple times inside the Metropolitan Detention Center on Wednesday.

Melina Bookert, 24, of Albuquerque, is charged with aggravated battery great bodily harm.

Bookert had been booked into MDC Tuesday after being arrested for allegedly receiving or transferring a stolen vehicle in Northeast Albuquerque, according to court records.

Deputies identified Bookert through MDC video surveillance, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.

At about 12:30 p.m., MDC called dispatch telling them Bookert stabbed a female inmate in the eye with a pen during a court hearing, the complaint states. First responders arrived and took the woman to a local hospital.

The woman told deputies she did not know why she was attacked and could not see out of her right eye, deputies said.

Roughly 15 minutes earlier, at 12:15 p.m., a corrections officer called for help in the arraignment room, the complaint states. When deputies arrived, they saw a female inmate crying with blood covering her eyes and a bloody pen on the floor, deputies said.

The officer told deputies they saw her blood-covered eyes as she screamed that she was stabbed, and that they heard inmates say Bookert stabbed her with the pen multiple times, according to the complaint.

The woman told a paramedic she was sleeping when she woke up “to what felt like several punches on her face,” deputies said.

MDC video surveillance showed Bookert looking around the room as she and the woman were sitting next to each other, the complaint states. As the officer was walking, Bookert took a pen then grabbed the woman’s head and stabbed her in the eyes, deputies said. The women fell to the floor and as they started wrestling, the woman told deputies. Bookert dropped the pen and “used her fingers to stab” her in the eyes, according to the complaint.

The woman, who suffered a torn eyelid and scratched cornea, told deputies Bookert had an “evil look on her face when she lunged at her,” deputies said.

Bookert refused to talk to deputies, the complaint states.

In November, she pleaded guilty to aggravated fleeing a law enforcement officer and receiving or transferring a stolen vehicle and received probation, court records state.

Prosecutors filed a pretrial motion to keep Bookert behind bars, saying, “Stabbing another inmate is a direct violation of the conditions of the defendant’s probation.”

“Moreover, the defendant did not comply with the rules of MDC,” according to the motion. “This defendant will not likely comply with conditions set forth by the court in this matter, as evidenced by her behavior.”