09/24/2004
Well, well. Gov. Minner has stepped in it only 39 days before the election. The guv has now denied she was referring to the kidnapping and rape of prison counselor Cassandra Arnold when she told the Delaware State News on July 15, "This isn't something that is unique to Delaware. In prisons, you almost expect this to happen."
That may have been only a few sentences in Dover's daily newspaper, but every woman in Delaware remembers the quote. It's been repeated in The News Journal, weekly papers, on the radio and by word of mouth for over two months now.
It was not one of Minner's better days speaking off the cuff.
Now she's told the State News in an interview published Wednesday that she was referring to training issues, not the hostage incident. Oops.
What makes this denial more egregious is that Cassandra Arnold granted an extraordinary interview to both newspapers and the Associated Press, describing her ordeal and commenting how the governor's comment insulted her.
Minner told the State News that her comment "expect this to happen" was about why corrections officers were handling the nearly seven-hour standoff with inmate Scott A. Miller rather than a State Police unit. Miller was finally shot dead by a corrections officer after he had raped Arnold.
Minner told the State News: "In that comment, I was talking about training. In expectations of these things happening, we train our officers accordingly. I still stand by that statement."
OK. I'm not exactly clear on how that applies to training prison officers. What has trickled out about that horrible incident from people at the scene is that Corrections Commissioner Stan Taylor refused to allow the State Police negotiation and SWAT team experts to assume control at the prison because he wouldn't allow loaded weapons inside. I'm sure the live ammunition used to kill Miller will be explained to everyone's satisfaction when the internal investigation of the incident is released to the public.
Everyone from the governor's office down refused calls for an independent investigation by an outside agency, saying that Taylor's office -- which was in charge of the scene during the crisis -- could produce an objective review of the hostage situation, rape and shooting. That doesn't leave a lot of room for Taylor to second-guess himself.
Minner has said no Department of Corrections policies were violated during the standoff. That was a little too much for Douglas Ingram to hear.
"If what the governor said is true, that no prison policies were violated on July 12, then we have more serious problems than anyone could ever imagine," Ingram told the State News.
Ingram worked for the Department of Corrections for five years in the 1980s before going to work for the federal prison system analyzing security. Most recently he worked for a civilian agency that advised the state on prison matters. He took two days of his own time to write a report on security and policy problems facing the Delaware prison system. His report, which he was told would be considered by top officials, got buried.
Ingram took it to the State News. Ingram soon found himself demoted from his job at Sussex Correctional Institution and forbidden to work inside the prison walls. He's now working at a halfway house for the civilian prison consulting agency.
As if trying to retract her comment wasn't enough, the governor has also questioned Arnold's account of what happened before the assault.
Ingram has a simple assessment of all this: "This is a cover-up."
Why not let the Corrections Department investigate that too?
Reach Ron Williams at rwilliams@delawareonline.com
