The News Journal
02/01/2005
A special task force appointed by Gov. Ruth Ann Minner to examine security lapses and policies in the state's prison system has been given a two-week extension to file its report.
The report was due Monday but task force members requested the extra time because they have a lot of data to sift through, Wilmington lawyer Thomas McGonigle said.
Minner granted the extension, according to her spokesman Gregory Patterson, because she wants task force members to have whatever time they need to file a report that is as comprehensive as possible.
"They were working on a very tight deadline and said they needed more time," Patterson said Monday. "The governor gave them the extension because she wants them to have the time they need to do the job thoroughly."
The task force was appointed in early October to look into the circumstances surrounding the rape of prison counselor Cassandra Arnold at the Delaware Correctional Center near Smyrna.
Arnold was abducted and raped by serial rapist Scott A. Miller, who also threatened to kill her. A corrections officer shot him to death when Miller tried to stab Arnold with a homemade knife.
Miller was serving a 699-year sentence when he walked, unescorted, through two security doors to reach an office area where he hid in a bathroom.
He abducted Arnold soon after and held her hostage for about seven hours before he was killed.
In a $3.9 million lawsuit filed against the state, Arnold and her attorneys allege that overworked guards were a contributing cause to her abduction and rape. At last count, the state's corrections system had 332 vacancies - including 47 officers who are in either the National Guard or Reserve and have been called to active duty, spokeswoman Beth Welch said.
Minner appointed the task force when an internal investigation failed to adequately explain how Miller was able to navigate the prison's security system with apparent ease.
Serving with McGonigle on the task force are former Superior Court Judge Vincent A. Bifferato; former Chancellor Grover C. Brown; Georgetown lawyer Brian D. Shirey; Dover lawyer Rebecca Batson Kidner; Tony Allen, former president of the Urban League and now a vice president at MBNA; and Guy Sapp, a former Wilmington police chief who also served as the director of the state's Youth Rehabilitative Services Division. He is now the director of special court services for Family Court in Delaware.
Corrections officers said Monday they are not unhappy about the delay.
"Personally I think, yes, it's a good idea to give them more time," said Cpl. Paul E. Smith, a corrections officer who works in the transportation division at the New Castle County Courthouse in Wilmington.
"I think they're looking at this thing really hard and heavy. They know there's a lot of problems," Smith said. "I and a lot of others don't see any problem with the delay. Let them get this thing right."
Contact Mike Billington at 324-2761 or mbillington@delawareonline.com.
