Woman suing over brutal assault while teaching in prison; AZ AG "What did you expect?"

Teacher brutally assaulted in unguarded prison room

The Arizona Attorney General's Office is asking for dismissal of a lawsuit filed by a teacher who was brutally assaulted and raped after being left in an unguarded prison classroom with a convicted sex offender.

The AG's reasoning is essentially this: the woman knew she was in a prison, so what did she expect?

No, seriously. That's the reasoning.

"Plaintiff is an ADOC (Arizona Department of Corrections) employee who routinely worked at the prison complex," Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Weisbard wrote in his motion to dismiss. "By being placed in a classroom at the complex, the officers were not placing Plaintiff in any type of situation that she would not normally face. The risk of harm, including assault, always existed at a prison like Eyman."

The woman, who works for DOC as a teacher, was scheduled to give a GED exam to seven sex offenders housed at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Eyman on Jan. 20, 2014.

Normally, such tests are given in the visitation room, which is monitored by security cameras and corrections officers. But on that day, because of a special event, she was sent to an unmonitored classroom, handed a radio and told to use it if there was any trouble, her lawsuit says.

According to the lawsuit, the 20-year-old inmate grabbed her from behind and took her to the ground as she struggled. He then stabbed her repeatedly in the head with a pen, choked her, slammed her head into the floor, tore away her clothes and raped her, the lawsuit says.

The teacher told investigators she screamed for help, but no one came. After the attack, Harvey tried to use her radio to call for help but it was tuned to a channel the guards didn't even use. Eventually, Harvey allowed her to phone for help.

This is the AG's version of "She was asking for it." Are we next going to hear him ask her what was she wearing? If sticking guards are supposed to be in the room and YOU, Mr. AG do not have guards in the room, YOU are at fault, NOT her. If you give her a radio to use to radio guards for help and it's tuned to the WRONG DANG CHANNEL, YOU Mr. AG, are at fault, NOT her. Can I go get sick now?

Weisbard, in his motion to dismiss, wrote that the teacher can't prove that corrections officials knew she was being put into a dangerous situation.

"Plaintiff wants to create an artificial impression that the ADOC officers knew she was in danger but she did not know," he wrote. "It makes no sense. Of course, if Plaintiff did appreciate the danger of her situation, as an employee, she could have done something about it."

Translation: it's her own darn fault.

a reply to: Anyafaj

I kind of agree not on a moral basis but if i go stand in the road and get hit by a car can i sue the city.
So if i lock myself in a room with a rapist and get raped can i sue the city i dunno thin grey line here glad im not on city council lol

I mean i know prison responsability to protect her and all that jazz i know.
But you do see the point.

Also mabey a good lesson to all the liberals with too big of hearts some people are just sick and you can not help them and your only gonna get yourself hurt or killed trying.

I'm not saying that it's her own fault. She didn't ask the guy to assault her.

In my opinion, however, she should have never agreed to go into the unmonitored room to administer the test. I don't know what prison protocol is, but if I were in her shoes I'd have had them reschedule until the usual monitored room was available. It was a mistake for her to be put into that room, and a mistake for her to willingly go into that room.

This is one of those sad and tragic stories that could have had a different outcome if people didn't become complacent.

originally posted by: sweets777
a reply to: Anyafaj

I kind of agree not on a moral basis but if i go stand in the road and get hit by a car can i sue the city.
So if i lock myself in a room with a rapist and get raped can i sue the city i dunno thin grey line here glad im not on city council lol

I mean i know prison responsability to protect her and all that jazz i know.
But you do see the point.

Also mabey a good lesson to all the liberals with too big of hearts some people are just sick and you can not help them and your only gonna get yourself hurt or killed trying.

I do see your point, but she also went in with the knowledge, I'm sure, that a guard would be in the room at all times. Also too, what I the holy dickens is the sense in giving her a radio to call for help, if it's not even tuned to a station they use???? I mean c'mon! Just a hint of common sense would be awesome! From someone somewhere on this planet. It seems it's in such small supply these days. I won't victim blame as she has been through enough, so I'll hold my tongue.


I will say, anyone, male or female, who is a civilian, who is asked to work in a prison and accepts on the condition they are protected, does so WITH that provision. If a guard was supposed to be in the room, then the prison, and the AG messed up. And to blame her for their error, compounds the problem. It turns it into a "What was she wearing?"

Cut their parts off and feed them to the hounds.
It will have psychological impact.

This is so sickening! How was she supposed to know what kind of offender each of them was, for heaven's sake? I too taught for a school that sent me to different places, but I did not go to a prison, although I did not feel completely safe in some of the places they did send me to. I'll bet in retrospect that she wishes she had not agreed to accept the walkie-talkie and go into an unsupervised room though. What happened to her was not her fault. That prosecutor, ewwwww, what a loathesome man to suggest it was her fault.

Prison guards know damn well not to give prisoners any opportunity to be able to take advantage of a situation... ever. Not for one minute, not for five minutes.

There is supposed to be eyes on prisoners at all times. No excuses.

This was a full fail on the part of the prison administration and staff involved.

The only mistake this teacher made was the fact that she put full trust in the prison guards to actually know what they were doing in terms of assessing the safety/risk of the situation, the prisoner(s) involved, and whether or not to give it a green light go ahead.

Apparently, they were fricken clueless.

And the teacher paid the price for their f-up.

Unacceptable.

What is the policy and was the prison negligent?

My opinion is sex offenders should be killed, problem solved. (Actual sex offenders, not people caught peeing in the street)

a reply to: Anyafaj

i wonder if he passed lol teach prisoners ......lol thats funny

originally posted by: sweets777
a reply to: Anyafaj

i wonder if he passed lol teach prisoners ......lol thats funny

I'll give you a star for trying to be funny and inject humor, sadly this is a deeply personal topic for me as I've been through this at a very, very young age. It is one I can never laugh over. I'd agree with the poster and the fed them to the hound if I weren't a dang Christian and trying to be moral and all..... I would think it, but that's supposed to be a sin too, but I won't go there and derail the thread... back on topic. Thanks for trying at least.

Um I'm sorry but to say this is the ladies fault is just disgusting.

She was trying to help and the prison let her down.
Sure she should have never agreed to the conditions but the prison should have never even offered it to her.

This is negligent of them, shoot if the radio station part is true then that alone is enough for me.

All hail the mighty prison industrial complex!

Can we please start automatically putting down sex offenders? Seriously, lethal injection should be mandatory for some crimes.

In this thread alone, you guys have seriously made my week.

I just want to say thank you for sticking up for us survivors. That is all. As someone who was told at age 8, by the court no less, that is was my fault, I initiated it, you have restored some measure of faith in humanity here today. Thank you.

I read this and had the same disgusted reaction... the corrupt powers of gov sticking up for the corporate for-profit prison system and all supported by a misogynistic good ol boy club are behind this ...and much atrocity in AZ.

On the other side, some non-violent offenders are being killed via medical neglect because the same prison withheld doc care because it was too expensive... rotten through and through.

I happen to live in a pocket of sanity in a wild west stereotype ... but then again, this crap could happen most anywhere in the degenerating states of America.

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
What is the policy and was the prison negligent?

My opinion is sex offenders should be killed, problem solved. (Actual sex offenders, not people caught peeing in the street)

Thing is, those caught peeing in the street or who were seduced are lumped in with the real monsters and are branded as such for the rest of their lives. It doesn't work.

What a horrible incident, sadly no good will come of it.

By good I mean the death penalty for the man who assaulted her and the six other "human beings" that watched and did nothing to help her.

It's time to start culling the heard if we as a society ever want to get anywhere. Keeping trash like this around is just going to keep dragging us down.

a reply to: sweets777

You would think that a guard would be present or the prisoner restrained. I think that would be common sense, no?
One guards wages for the classes duration versus the cost of court time, inspections and possibly a law suit. That doesn't make for practical management of funds.

Cheers, Nuts