A correctional officer is expected to recover after an inmate being escorted out of a cell stabbed the officer.

The Arizona Department of Corrections said the incident happened around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday in the Buckley unit of the Lewis Prison Complex in Buckeye.

"An inmate that was being escorted out of his housing pod to the medical building pulled out an improvised prison-made weapon and began swinging at a correctional officer, stabbing him in the chest," an email from prisons spokesman Andrew Wilder stated.

The inmate was being escorted to medical after reporting feelings of dizziness to officers.

Other staff immediately restrained the inmate while medical staff evaluated the officer, who was eventually taken to a local hospital for treatment.

He was alert and conscious while leaving the unit, and his injury appeared to be non-life threatening.

"While an investigation remains ongoing, it appears the weapon used in the attack was fashioned from a portable immersion heater coil, not a door pin," Mr. Wilder stated. "The inmate will be moved to maximum security housing and will face criminal charges for his actions."

While the Lewis prison complex and the ADC itself have come under fire in recent weeks over cells not locking properly, officials said today's incident does not appear not related.

The housing unit where the incident occurred was fully staffed at the time of the incident.