Dover Bureau reporter
10/6/2004
A door propped open in what was supposed to be a secure area in the Delaware Correctional Center was a major security breach that led to the July 12 rape of a prison counselor, Correction Commissioner Stanley Taylor said today.
Taylor released an inch-thick report that details the events the day the counselor was taken hostage and makes recommendations to beef up security.
On the morning of July 12, several witnesses saw the door to the Building 24 administrative area propped open with a wooden chock, the report states.
A set of “slider doors” keeps inmates from the administrative area.
“It is no longer a secure envelope when you start bringing inmates down and interviewing them in this area,” Taylor said.
Steps that have been taken since the hostage-taking include:
– An order to ensure the door to the administrative unit remains locked at all times. Inmates are denied entry to the area.
– Motorola radios have been ordered for counselors in medium- and high-security units.
– All inmates entering or leaving the building are required to be escorted by a correctional officer at all times.
Cassandra Arnold, a 27-year-old counselor, was taken hostage and raped by convicted serial rapist Scott Miller during a seven-hour ordeal.
The standoff ended when a rescuer hiding in the ceiling of Arnold’s office shot Miller to death as Miller lunged at the counselor with a prison-made knife.
According to the report, the knife was made of a galvanized metal that resembled fencing material and was wrapped with plastic and masking tape. The point was sharpened on four sides, similar to a nail.
The report says it “could not be determined” where Miller obtained the materials to make the knife.
Read more about it in Thursday’s News Journal and at www.delawareonline.com Contact J.L. Miller at 678-4271 or jlmiller@delawareonline.com
