By CRIS BARRISH and ESTEBAN PARRA
The News Journal
10/13/2004
Security lapses at the state's largest prison, combined with overworked guards and other dangerous conditions, led to the July 12 abduction and rape of a prison counselor by an inmate, her attorneys charged Tuesday after filing a federal civil rights lawsuit against the state.
Cassandra Arnold had sought a $3.9 million settlement from the state last month after her attorneys provided Gov. Ruth Ann Minner's office with a draft copy of the lawsuit. The state rejected the settlement offer.
The 27-year-old counselor's lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, alleges that conditions at the state prison near Smyrna violated Arnold's right to liberty and a safe work environment. It does not seek a specific amount of damages.
Besides the state and the Department of Correction, the lawsuit named Minner, corrections commissioner Stanley W. Taylor Jr. and several prison employees as defendants.
Minner would not take questions about the lawsuit but issued a statement: "Ms. Arnold underwent a terrible ordeal, and we are doing all we can do to see that a similar situation does not occur in the future. That is why I appointed an independent panel to examine security issues at the Delaware Correctional Center as a follow-up to the department's internal investigation, but I cannot comment further on any pending litigation."
A week ago, when Taylor released an internal report that did not reach conclusions or place blame for the abduction, Minner named a seven-person panel to conduct an independent review of the report and prison policies.
Taylor would not comment Tuesday. His office released a statement saying Arnold's "welfare and recovery remain a top concern'' and that officials had improved security at the prison.
The suit said open security doors and other safety lapses, staff shortages, inexperienced and poorly trained guards, and lax oversight contributed to Arnold's seven-hour ordeal after serial rapist Scott A. Miller took her hostage. The standoff ended when a rescuer hiding in the ceiling shot Miller to death as he tried to stab Arnold with a homemade shank.
Serving 699 years
Miller, who was serving a 699-year sentence, had been allowed to pass alone through two security doors to reach an office area where he hid in a bathroom and abducted Arnold.
"All the security flaws and weaknesses 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 Herbert G. 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 could not be reached Tuesday. In an interview last month, Arnold said she suffers from nightmares, flashbacks and other painful reminders of being held hostage.
The lawsuit claims the defendants "contributed to the shocking and dangerous conditions'' at the state's largest prison by not addressing security lapses.
The lawsuit noted that two weeks before her abduction, Arnold wrote an e-mail warning superiors about an open security door in another part of the medium-high security unit where she worked. Known as Building 24, the unit has a cafeteria, commissary, counseling rooms and administrative offices, and connects to three buildings that house inmates.
On July 12, the security door to the offices was propped open, which had become a regular practice, Taylor's internal report and the lawsuit said.
Leaving security doors open is "egregious behavior of such magnitude as to shock the conscience,'' the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit also said the state's failure to fully staff the prisons over several years constituted an "established policy'' to run the prison without enough guards on duty. That failure has led the state to force guards frequently to work eight-hour overtime shifts.
On the day Arnold was abducted, several guards were working overtime, including the roving officer responsible for monitoring inmate movement and the officer in a control booth who let Miller pass through two security doors.
Miller had just left a group counseling session conducted by Arnold.
Prison officials said Sgt. Lachelle Green, the control booth guard, told them Miller was six to eight steps behind Arnold and she assumed they were together.
Green, who resigned a few days after the abduction, could not be reached on Tuesday.
Feuerhake has said Green is not credible because she said the abduction occurred 20 seconds after Miller passed through the doors. Arnold and other witnesses said it was nearly 10 minutes later.
"The July 12 crisis should have never happened,'' Jeffrey Martin said. "It was totally, completely and absolutely preventable.'' Martin is another Arnold attorney
Contributed to campaign
The outside panel Minner has appointed to investigate what happened that day includes three fellow Democrats who contributed the maximum $1,200 to her re-election campaign: attorneys Thomas P. McGonigle, Rebecca B. Kidner and Brian D. Shirey. Minner, a first-term governor, faces Republican retired judge Bill Lee and Independent-Libertarian businessman Frank Infante in the November general election. No panel members contributed to Lee or Infante.
McGonigle and Kidner promised to remain objective. "We don't feel we are charged with coming out with any particular opinion,'' Kidner said. "We're going to come to conclusions regardless of the candidates we support.'' Shirey could not be reached.
Minner issued a statement Tuesday calling all members "well-respected community leaders with unquestioned integrity and impeccable credentials.''
Feuerhake said he trusted the panel to uphold its duty. He urged Minner and the state Legislature to give the panel power to hire outside prison security experts, interview top corrections officials and rank-and-file employees working the day Arnold was abducted, and grant anonymity to whistleblowers who could shed light on systemic problems.
Also Tuesday, Arnold's attorneys released the Sept. 28 letter from the governor's legal counsel, Joseph C. Schoell, rejecting the settlement offer. The two-page letter said the "state-created danger theory'' alleged in the lawsuit draft cites a federal law that does not permit employees who work "under inherently dangerous conditions'' to recover damages for job injuries.
Schoell's letter also noted that Arnold receives annual hazardous duty pay and has begun collecting worker's compensation benefits. She has not returned to work. Arnold, a senior counselor hired in 2001, receives $31,400 in salary and $2,520 in hazard pay.
On the letter Arnold's attorneys released, their settlement offer was blacked out. In response, Minner's office released the same letter, including the $3.9 million offer. "If the letter is out there, the point is to make sure it's the complete version,'' Minner spokeswoman Kate Bailey said.
Martin said the $3.9 million figure was blacked out because amounts sought in negotiations should be confidential. "It was our figure and not our client's figure,'' Martin said. "We are afraid of letting her down by not asking for enough, because we recognized that a jury could return a verdict two or three times the amount of this initial demand.''
Contact senior reporter Cris Barrish at 324-2785 or cbarrish@delawareonline.com. Contact Esteban Parra at 324-2299 or eparra@delawareonline.com.
