Teacher left alone with sex offender at Ariz. prison is raped

[Jazzy]

A teacher at an Arizona prison was alone in a room full of sex offenders before being stabbed and sexually assaulted by a convicted rapist, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press about an attack that highlighted major security lapses at the facility.

The attack occurred Jan. 30 at the Eyman prison's Meadows Unit, which houses about 1,300 rapists, child molesters and other sex offenders. The teacher was administering a high school equivalency test to about a half-dozen inmates in a classroom with no guard nearby and only a radio to summon help.

After the last of the other inmates left, Jacob Harvey asked the teacher if she could open the bathroom and then attacked her, records show. Harvey is accused of stabbing her in the head with a pen, forcing her to the ground and raping her.

The teacher told investigators that she screamed for help, but none came. Afterward, Harvey tried to use her radio to call for help. It had apparently been changed to a channel the unit's guards didn't use, so Harvey let the woman use a phone, according to the reports.

Carl ToersBijns, a former deputy warden at the prison, said the assault highlights chronic understaffing and lax security policies that put staff members at risk.

"Here you've got a guy that commits a hell of a crime ... and he's put into an environment that actually gives him an opportunity to do his criminality because of a lack of staffing," said ToersBijns, who was deputy warden at the Eyman prison in Florence until retiring in 2010 and oversaw the Meadows Unit for 19 months.

State prison officials, however, dismiss the concerns. They say the assault at the prison about 60 miles southeast of Phoenix is a risk that comes with the job of overseeing violent prison inmates.

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[Bluezone777]

It looks more like she was much a victim of that man as she was the system that valued saving a buck over proper staffing and protection for those serving the prison in any capacity. Perhaps if they were more interested in posting guards in the classroom and not allowing a group of prisoners to walk freely without any guards inside or outside the classroom would have prevent this to the extent in which it occurred.

The only reason she is alive is because the criminal let her live as it looks clear as day that he could have easily killed her if he wanted to. Is that also a risk someone takes by working there and if so then why would anyone want to work in such a place with so little regard for the safety of its employees?

 

[DrLeftover]

This happened ten years ago at the prison I used to work at.

Counselor speaks out on Delaware prison system
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — A counselor who was taken hostage and raped by an inmate in July harshly criticized Delaware's Department of Correction, saying it is plagued by mismanagement and inadequate, often incompetent, staffing.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-09-19-delaware-prisons_x.htm