Inmate gets life sentence for raping prison teacher
An inmate who raped a prison teacher was sentenced to natural life in prison Monday after apologizing to the victim in an Arizona court, the Associated Press reports.
The woman was present in Pinal County Superior Court, accompanied by her parents, for the sentencing of Jacob Harvey. But her statements were read by her attorney, Scott Zwillinger, before the apology.
“At one point after the rape, I wished inmate Harvey had just killed me because death seemed like a relief compared to the hell I was living,” the 35-year-old woman’s statement said of the January 2014 rape. “While I may have wanted to die shortly after the rape, I now have a greater purpose and will to live.”
Harvey, 21, did not look back at her when apologizing: “I want to say that I do feel true remorse for everything that happened,” he said. “Most of all I would like to say to the victim that I truly am sorry for what I have done. I hope she will forgive me someday.”
There was no plea bargain, and the life sentence was mandatory. Harvey already was serving a 30-year sentence for a 2011 rape when the attack occurred.
The teacher, without guards present, was in a room giving a high school equivalency test to about a half-dozen inmates in a unit of the Eyman state prison holding about 1,300 rapists, child molesters and other sex offenders. When the others left, Harvey asked if he could use the bathroom, then stabbed the teacher in the head with a pen, forced her to the floor and raped her. Afterward, Harvey tried to summon guards with a two-way radio they had given the teacher, which was unavailing. Harvey then let her use a telephone to call for help.
A former deputy warden at the prison told the AP in 2014 that the prison was chronically understaffed and had lax security. The woman has sued the state Department of Corrections and, in a rare move, the state Division of Occupational Health and Safety fined the Department of Corrections $14,000.
Harvey’s life sentence doesn’t begin until he completes the earlier 30-year term, for which he’d completed one year when he raped the teacher. On Monday he also received sentences totaling more than 35 years, to run consecutively, for kidnapping and aggravated assault with a dangerous instrument, the Arizona New Republic reported.
