By ESTEBAN PARRA
The News Journal
09/30/2004
Gov. Ruth Ann Minner's chief attorney recommended against a proposed settlement with a counselor taken hostage and raped by an inmate in July.
However, attorney Joseph Schoell sent the proposal to the state Attorney General's Office for review and possible recommendation, Minner's spokeswoman said Wednesday.
"It was not rejected," said Kate Bailey, Minner's spokeswoman.
Attorneys for Cassandra Arnold, 27, delivered a draft 22-page complaint to Minner's office last week. The complaint accuses the state of deliberately endangering Arnold and proposes a settlement, which her attorneys would not disclose Wednesday.
In a response sent to Arnold's attorneys Tuesday, Schoell said that while the governor has "great sympathy" for Arnold, he could not recommend that the state settle her claims.
One of Arnold's attorneys, Jeffrey Martin, said Schoell's response was a rejection by the governor's office.
"The letter did not indicate that the governor's office had any desire to resolve this matter at this point," Martin said. "It does not appear we will resolve this mater before filing a lawsuit."
In an interview earlier this month, Arnold said staffing shortages and "lazy and incompetent" workers have led to security breaches that endanger both employees and inmates at the Delaware Correctional Center near Smyrna.
She also criticized Warden Thomas L. Carroll, her partner on a panel to improve prison culture, for not calling her on the phone during the crisis or agreeing to Miller's demand for a face-to-face meeting several hours into the crisis.
Martin said the complaint names more than a dozen defendants, ranging from Minner and Department of Correction Commissioner Stanley Taylor to prison guards on duty when Arnold was held hostage for almost seven hours and raped by serial rapist Scott Miller before he was shot dead.
"We believe there is every basis to bring in Governor Minner as a defendant in this matter, just as there is a basis for bringing in Stanley Taylor, the commissioner," Martin said. "On her watch, the prisons continue to be chronically understaffed and dangerous places to work."
Arnold's complaint alleges the state showed deliberate indifference in creating a dangerous working environment for prison employees. It also accuses prison officials of allowing security doors meant to protect staff and control the movements of prisoners to be routinely propped open.
Arnold has said two security doors leading to her office from a classroom where she held a counseling session with Miller and other inmates at the Smyrna prison were left open just before she was attacked.
Martin had planned to file the lawsuit Wednesday, but said he has decided to wait until the corrections department releases its internal investigation of the incident.
That report is expected to be released next week.
The Associated Press contributed to this article. Contact Esteban Parra at 324-2299 or eparra@delawareonline.com.
