PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona’s workplace safety agency on
Wednesday launched a full investigation of the prison system’s safety
policies after the rape of a teacher inside a state prison classroom.
The
teacher was alone in a classroom with no guard nearby on Jan. 30 when a
convicted rapist assaulted her. Details of the case were the subject of
a June 19 report by The Associated Press.
The Arizona Division of
Occupational Safety and Health began reviewing the case last week as a
result of the AP reports. The agency then took the case a step farther
Wednesday by launching a formal inspection of the Arizona Department of
Corrections, spokeswoman Abbie Fink said.
The agency can’t comment
further on the investigation until it is concluded, Fink said. Such
cases can take many months to complete.
Prison officials said there were no security issues at the prison, but they are now adding cameras in
classrooms.
"Certainly
we will fully cooperate with whatever they ask us to do," Department of
Corrections spokesman Doug Nick said Thursday.
The attack raised
questions about prison security given the fact that the teacher was put
in a room full of sex offenders with no prison-guard supervision nearby.
Authorities said the inmate, Jacob Harvey, lingered in the room after
other inmates had left, stabbed the teacher with a pen and raped her.
The
attack occurred at the Eyman prison’s Meadows Unit, which houses about
1,300 rapists, child molesters and other sex offenders. The prison is in
Florence, about 60 miles southeast of Phoenix.
A former deputy
warden at the prison, Carl ToersBijns, has said the assault highlights
chronic understaffing and lax security policies that put staff members
at risk.
Harvey, 20, was charged last month with sexual assault,
kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon. A public defender was
appointed, and Harvey pleaded not guilty at his arraignment. The public
defender assigned to his case has declined to comment.