A former inmate of the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility who started a fire in a cell and seriously injured a correctional officer in 2019 has been sentenced for his crimes.

Teri Kensiar Brayton, 24, was an inmate in the Boone Unit of the FDCF on Dec. 2, 2019, when around 10:15 p.m., he intentionally started a fire within his cell. When Correctional Officer Michael Kaufman responded, Brayton attacked the officer and attempted to attack a second officer, eventually having to be subdued with pepper spray.

According to the press release from the Iowa DOC immediately following the assault, “The officer that was assaulted was evaluated and treated by institution medical staff for their injuries.”

During Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, Kaufman gave a victim impact statement that appears to contradict the prior information released by the DOC.

“[The attack] has taken my personal life as I knew it from me,” Kaufman said. “I am a 42-year-old man with limited vision resulting from a concussion and internal brain bleed when Mr. Teri Brayton unexpectedly jumped me and kicked me in the head multiple times.”

Kaufman has been told by doctors that he’ll never regain his full eyesight, he said, and that his lasting injuries and resulting post-traumatic stress disorder has been “exceptionally hard” on his family.

“My body is stuck in a constant state of hypervigilance, reliving the ambush every day, ready to fight for my life again,” he said. “Everyday life has become a battleground.”

In July, Brayton pleaded guilty to three felony charges — first-degree arson, Class B; willful injury causing serious injury, Class C; and assault on persons in certain occupations, Class D. He was sentenced by Webster County District Court Judge Kurt Stoebe on Tuesday afternoon.

For the arson, Brayton was sentenced to an indeterminate term up to 25 years in prison, with a mandatory minimum of 70 percent, or 17 and a half years.

For the willful injury charge, he was sentenced to up to 10 years, and for the assault on persons in certain occupations, he was sentenced to up to five years.

During the sentencing hearing, Brayton expressed apologies for injuring Kaufman. Stoebe asked why Brayton had started the fire and attacked the officer that night in 2019.

“Pretty much, I was scared to get out of prison,” Brayton said. “So I felt that I had to do whatever necessary — as wrongly as it sounds — to not get discharged from prison because I was scared to get out.”

He said he was “terribly sorry” that the assault had a lasting negative impact on Kaufman’s life and “I really wish that I could take it back.”

It was noted during Tuesday’s hearing that Brayton has spent much of his adult life incarcerated.

At the time of the 2019 assault, Brayton was serving sentences for several charges out of Black Hawk County, including a five-year sentence for second-degree theft and providing false ID. He had previously been on work release in Waterloo in June 2019, but the release was revoked and his original sentence was re-imposed in October 2019.

According to Iowa Court records, Brayton also had several warrants out for his arrest in Illinois and Missouri.

Brayton was involved in another assault on a DOC staffer in January of this year. On Jan. 15, Brayton attacked a correctional officer at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center. He then assaulted a second officer who had responded to the area.

In July, Brayton pleaded guilty in Johnson County District Court to one count of attempted murder, a Class B felony, for the Jan. 15 attack. For this assault, he was sentenced to up to 25 years, with a mandatory 70 percent minimum.

The Johnson County and Webster County sentences will be served concurrently to one another and consecutive to sentences out of Black Hawk County that Brayton is currently serving.

Due to the nature of the correctional officer attacks, Brayton will serve the remainder of his sentences out of the state of Iowa.

The Messenger contacted the Iowa Department of Corrections, which runs the Fort Dodge prison, for comment. No response was received as of press time on Tuesday.