By Kate House-Layton,
Delaware State News
WILMINGTON — Prison counselor Cassandra Arnold hopes Delaware's prison system will improve as a result of her ordeal.
She realizes and accepts that it has become part of a gubernatorial campaign issue about problems with the state Department of Correction.
She doesn't mind, she said, as long as some good comes out of it.
On Saturday, Ms. Arnold, whose name and image has been used in political ads, debates and speeches, spoke out about the issue.
Ms. Arnold said she did not know her name and picture would be used in Republican-sponsored political ads, but does know her name and ordeal are part of the public domain.
"It is my profound hope that some good comes from my suffering," Ms. Arnold said.
On July 12, inmate Scott A. Miller took Ms. Arnold hostage for nearly seven hours and raped her before a correctional officer shot him to death.
In her statement Saturday, Ms. Arnold thanked the officer who came through the ceiling of the room where Miller held her, in order to save her. She also sent out a greeting to her Department of Correction friends and colleagues in Smyrna.
"Although I may not have seen you in the last few months, I have not forgotten you. Thank you for your support and for what you do every day."
Ms. Arnold scolded Gov. Ruth Ann Minner for her public comments and responses to the advertisements, with which she said her opponent, Bill Lee, was exploiting Ms. Arnold.
"The other day the governor stated that the recent political advertisement dragged me through the dirt," Ms. Arnold said.
"I couldn't disagree more. I believe that the advertisement shed light on serious problems. Instead of facing that fact, the governor pretends to defend me. I could have used her defense on July 12. I don't need it now.
"She acts as if I should be ashamed of what happened to me on July 12. She's the one who should be ashamed."
Ms. Arnold called the governor's responses to her ordeal "cold," from her comment to the public release of her $3.9 million settlement proposal early this month, to what she called an insincere and politically motivated effort to defend her.
Following the rejected settlement proposal, Ms. Arnold's attorneys filed a federal lawsuit Oct. 12 against Gov. Minner and a dozen DOC officials.
Jeffrey K. Martin, one of Ms. Arnold's attorneys, said Ms. Arnold's statement was not an opinion about the gubernatorial campaign.
"This is not a political matter for Cassie Arnold," Mr. Martin said. "This is a matter of survival for her. And she feels very strongly that what has happened should not have happened. And she also feels that what happened since then has been very poorly handled by this administration."
Mr. Martin said Gov. Minner has not corresponded with his client and official correspondence between attorneys has been the only contact the governor has had.
Gov. Minner on Saturday said she did try to contact Ms. Arnold after the assault, but was told she did not want contact from anyone. Gov. Minner said she has respected that request.
The governor said she was talking to Mr. Lee when she said Ms. Arnold's name was being sullied.
"Advocates across the state have called me and said no one should be using a victim the way he's used her in this political campaign," Gov. Minner said.
"It is a shame, there is no question about that. I have a great deal of respect for her. I respected her when she didn't want me to invade her privacy just after that situation, and I continue to respect that."
The governor also said that Ms. Arnold's attorneys released her settlement proposal, not her office.
The governor defended her campaign, and said it has stuck to issues.
"My campaign has been on merits. It's been on health care, it's been on education, it's been on the environment, it's been on jobs," Gov. Minner said.
"And yes, I agree with (Ms. Arnold), we have some problems at the prison and we are working on those. We had been working on those even before the incident with the correctional officer and their leaders and we will continue to work on all of the problems that are there."
Mr. Lee said that his campaign staff did not know Ms. Arnold would be used in the advertisements sponsored by the Washington-based Republican Governor's Association, and did not see the ads until they were aired on television.
He said the campaign was not legally allowed to have any contact with the group that made the ad, or preview it.
"We are satisfied that we have done nothing in this campaign that goes against her wishes," Mr. Lee said.
Mr. Lee said he believed his campaign also has stuck to the issues and has not personally attacked the governor, but he said what happened to Ms. Arnold and the governor's response to it is one of the issues.
He said he and his campaign officials feel that the Minner administration failed correction officers and Ms. Arnold.
"The problems are still there, and the danger still exists for correction officers, correction staff, for inmates and for the general public," Mr. Lee said.
Independent-Libertarian candidate Frank Infante said no one has earned the right more than Ms. Arnold to say that the prison system needs to change.
"(What happened to her) would not be allowed to happen under my administration and there needs to be a change," he said.
He said he would have been proactive to the prison problems.
"And I want to do something now and that's what we should have done in this situation," Mr. Infante said.
Staff writer Kate House-Layton can be reached at 741-8242 or khouse@newszap.com
Reposted with permission from newszap.com
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