The News Journal
10/12/2004
WILMINGTON — A “perfect storm of correctional failure’’ led to the July 12 abduction, torture and rape of prison counselor Cassandra Arnold by a serial rapist serving a 699-year sentence, her attorneys charged today after filing a federal civil rights lawsuit against the state.
Arnold’s lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, charges that conditions at the state prison near Smyrna put Arnold in danger that violated her rights to liberty and a safe work environment. The lawsuit said open security doors and other safety lapses, inexperienced guards, staff shortages and lax oversight contributed to their client’s seven-hour hostage ordeal at the hands of Scott A. Miller. The standoff ended when a rescuer hiding in the ceiling shot Miller to death as he tried to stab Arnold with a homemade shank.
“All the security flaws and weakness and looming threats that the Department of Correction had been winking at for years came together at one place, at one time, to create a deluge of horror and trauma for our client,’’ attorney Herb Feuerhake said outside the courthouse. “The end result of this shocking indifference is that our client must spend many years coming to terms with her ordeal.’’
Arnold is seeking a significant sum, Feuerhake and colleague Jeffrey K. Martin said. The lawsuit names as defendants Gov. Ruth Ann Minner, corrections commissioner Stanley W. Taylor Jr. and several Delaware Correctional Center employees.
Minner and Taylor could not be immediately reached for comment. Last week the governor named a seven-person panel to conduct an independent review of a report from Taylor’s office that did not reach conclusions about what caused Arnold’s abduction.
See complete coverage in Wednesday’s News Journal or at www.delawareonline.com. Contact senior reporter Cris Barrish at 324-2785 or cbarrish@delawareonline.com.
