By CRIS BARRISH and ESTEBAN PARRA
The News Journal
10/08/2004
Five lawyers and a former Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League president have been named to a task force that will examine security lapses and policies that may have contributed to the July abduction and rape of a prison counselor, Gov. Ruth Ann Minner announced Thursday.
Minner, who plans to name one more member, called for the task force after reading a report released Wednesday by Delaware Department of Correction Commissioner Stanley W. Taylor Jr. The report did not reach a conclusion on what caused the nearly seven-hour hostage crisis that ended when the abductor was shot dead.
The Internal Affairs Unit's 37-page report is a compilation of interviews with the abducted counselor, Cassandra Arnold, corrections officers and other employees and inmates.
"This serious situation certainly warrants a second review, and I am grateful to these members of our community for giving of their time to see that this matter receives all the attention it deserves," Minner said in a statement.
Task force members are: former Superior Court Judge Vincent A. Bifferato; former Chancellor Grover C. Brown; Georgetown attorney Brian D. Shirey; Dover attorney Rebecca Batson Kidner; Wilmington attorney Thomas P. McGonigle; and Tony Allen, former president of the Urban League and now a vice president at MBNA.
"It's going to be a lot of work. There's been a couple of reports but I haven't seen them," said Bifferato, a Democrat who retired from the bench in April 2000 and now works as a mediator in civil cases.
Bifferato said he has followed coverage of the hostage's ordeal. "Nobody wants to see those things happen but you are dealing with a prison. The poor lady, it's got to be a hell of a thing to deal with."
Bifferato said he expects the seven members to meet and decide how far the investigation should go.
McGonigle, a Democrat who was legal counsel and policy director for former Gov. Tom Carper, now a U.S. senator, agreed with Bifferato that members would decide during their initial meetings whether to conduct their own investigation or review the previous reports.
"The governor has asked us to take a hard look at what happened and why, and to the extent that's appropriate, make well-thought-out recommendations for improvement," he said.
Jeffrey K. Martin, Arnold's attorney, said his client hoped the panel would conduct a truly independent investigation by interviewing guards and other employees, including prisons commissioner Taylor and the prison's warden, Thomas L. Carroll.
"The panel needs the opportunity to dig further in the July 12 episode, and they need the authority to look at the security issues," Martin said.
He said those interviewed should be granted anonymity if they request it because the prison system has a culture of punishing snitches.
Pat Bailey, chief negotiator for the union that represents prison counselors, said she hoped Minner names a person familiar with the corrections system, whether that person comes from the department's rank and file or another state.
Contact Cris Barrish at 324-2785 or cbarrish@delawareonline.com. Contact Esteban Parra at 324-2299 or eparra@delawareonline.com.
