Teacher raped by prison inmate settles suit against Arizona for $3M
An Arizona prison teacher will receive $3 million to settle her lawsuit against the state after being stabbed and raped by an inmate when she was left unguarded in a classroom, the Associated Press reports.
In January 2014, the teacher was giving a high-school equivalency test to about a half-dozen inmates at the Eyman state prison, which holds about 1,300 rapists, child molesters and other sex offenders. When others finished and left, inmate Jacob Harvey asked if he could use the restroom and stayed behind. He then repeatedly stabbed the teacher with a pen, forced her to the floor and raped her.
At the time of the attack, Harvey had served one year of a 30-year sentence for raping a Phoenix woman during a home invasion. In September 2015, Harvey received a life sentence for the rape of the teacher, the ABA Journal reported, to run consecutively after completing his sentence for the earlier rape. The state’s Division of Occupational Health and Safety also issued a rare fine against the Department of Corrections, in the amount of $14,000.
The lawsuit against the Department of Corrections said prison officials failed to protect the teacher and failed to properly evaluate Harvey. A former deputy warden at the prison told the Associated Press that the prison was chronically understaffed and security was lax. A federal judge had declined the state’s motion to dismiss the suit, saying that it was plausible that prison officials had created a dangerous environment.
Following the incident, prison officials installed cameras in classrooms; increased patrols by guards; and issued pepper spray to civilian workers, though the latter was planned before the rape.
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who took office in January 2015, well after the teacher’s suit was filed, made settlement a priority—although as part of the settlement, the state does not admit liability.
“Both my client and I are grateful to the attorney general because his administration was interested in doing the right thing here,” says Scott Zwillinger, the victim’s lawyer. “And that allowed us to reach a settlement that’s fair for my client and really for the state of Arizona as well.”
