New Jersey's corrections officers union says one of its members was distributing ice and hot water to inmates at a youth detention center when an inmate attacked him.

Officials with the State Policemen's Benevolent Association Local 105 say an inmate punched Officer Jerome Page 36 times in the head on Saturday after Page opened up a cell at the Albert Wagner Youth Correctional Facility in Bordentown.

The union declined to identify the inmate, but says the inmate has attacked corrections officers in the past.

The union says Page was taken to a hospital. He received several stitches for a split lip and suffered head and face bruising. Page is recovering on medical leave.

A spokesman for the state Department of Corrections says the incident remains under investigation.