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Arizona State Prison
Complex-Lewis, Lewis, Arizona
November 6, 2009 Arizona
Republic
Legal repercussions from Arizona’s longest prison-hostage saga continue
dragging through court five years later, but with a curious twist: One of
two women sexually assaulted during the drama is blaming the other rape
victim for allowing the violence to get started. The Maricopa County
Superior Court suit was filed three years ago by Lois Fraley, a
correctional officer at Lewis Prison who was held in a guard tower for 15 days
during 2004 by two inmates, Ricky Wassenaar and
Steven Coy. Defendants include Canteen Correctional Services Corporation,
which prepared inmate meals in a kitchen where the incident began, as well
as a company employee who was raped by Coy. That employee previously sued
the Department of Corrections and received an undisclosed financial
settlement after alleging that prison officials negligently allowed violent
felons to work with civilians in the kitchen. She blamed lax prison
security, inadequate training and incompetence. In the ongoing case,
attorney Joel Robbins, who represents Fraley, alleges that the female
kitchen employee failed to close and lock an office door as required by
prison rules. As a result, the suit says, Wassenaar
and Coy were able to enter the office and overpower the Canteen employee
and a DOC guard in the room. While Coy raped the kitchen worker, Wassenaar went to a nearby guard tower where Fraley and
detention officer Jason Auch were on duty.
According Department of Correction records, Auch
failed to verify who was at the door before pressing an electronic buzz-in
device. Wassenaar entered the tower, subdued both
guards and gained control of an arsenal. Coy then joined him. Auch was released midway through the ordeal, while
Fraley was held hostage and terrorized for two weeks. A peaceful surrender
was arranged with both inmates promised out-of-state transfers to complete
their prison terms. Fraley’s lawsuit says Coy was able to fashion a
homemade shank in the kitchen using metal bands removed from milk cases
that had been banned because of previous incidents. Although Auch’s decision to open the tower door was crucial
later on, the suit argues, the rampage could have been averted if kitchen
employee upheld their security responsibilities: “Ms. Fraley would never
have had to endure the two weeks in hell but for Canteen’s conduct.”
Canteen Corp. contends in legal filings that the company was responsible
for preparing food, not overseeing inmates or maintaining security. The
trial has been tentatively scheduled for late 2011. As a state employee,
Fraley was barred from suing the Department of Corrections under terms of
Arizona’s workers compensation law. According to court papers, she sued
Canteen on behalf of the state, which owned the rights to her complaint.
However, the state reassigned those rights back to Fraley, subject to a
lien. Arizona previously sued its insurance company for refusing to honor
liability coverage in the prison saga. The outcome of that case could not
be determined.
March 3, 2004
The prison where two corrections officers were held hostage is plagued by
unprofessionalism and complacency among officers, a panel reviewing the
hostage standoff said Tuesday. Procedures in the kitchen where the
Jan. 18 incident began should also be reviewed. The two inmates, Ricky Wassenaar and Steven Coy, were armed with shanks and
were able to overcome the only officer on duty there. In the future, the
kitchen office should be locked and two officers should be on duty,
panelists concluded. The panel said the department should also assess
whether to continue to employ civilian contract workers in the kitchen. One
such worker was raped during the incident. Another failed to show up for
work that day, and is being investigated for a possible involvement.
That investigation should continue, the panel recommended. The kitchen
worker, who did not show up Jan. 18 and has since been fired by food
service company Canteen, has refused to cooperate with investigators. The
Arizona Republic is not identifying the man because he has not been
named as a suspect or charged with a crime. Attempts to locate him for
comment have been unsuccessful. Representatives with Canteen did not return
calls seeking comment. (The Arizona Republic)
March 2, 2004
Investigators are looking into whether a civilian food-service worker is
linked to a botched escape attempt that led to a 15-day hostage siege at
the state prison in Buckeye. The unidentified man reportedly was one
of two food-service workers assigned to the Morey Unit kitchen area at the
Arizona State Prison Complex-Lewis on Jan. 18, when inmates Ricky Wassenaar and Steven Coy overpowered the other worker
and two corrections guard. "There were only the two employees
scheduled for duty morning and when he didn't show up, inmate Ricky Wassenaar began asking in particular where he
was," former Arizona Att General Grant
Woods, co-chairman of an investigative panel reviewing the hostage
situation, said Monday. "There is cert suspicious
circumstances surrounding this employee." Authorities
said the employee in question left the food service company assigned to the
prison shortly after the standoff began and thus far has refused to
cooperate in the subsequent investigation. (KVOA.com)
Michigan, Wayne
County
06/07/2013 wxyz.com
DETROIT (WXYZ) - An
investigation is underway to determine if Wayne County has been overcharged
by millions of dollars for the meals served inside all of their
jails. 7 Action News has learned there is an audit going on right now
of the food service contract. Privatizing prisoner meals inside Wayne
County’s four different detention facilities and jails was supposed to save
money. Back in 2010, Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano
and Sheriff’s Department Director Sue Hall recommended that Canteen
Correctional Services be chosen to provide meals to the inmates and to 350
jail staff members. Canteen Correctional Services is a division of
Continental Distributors. The Commission
approved their five-year contract – which totals $26,143,976. But the 7
Investigators have learned that allegations of suspicious overcharges are
part of a massive audit. Sources tell us that Continental is being
scrutinized for allegedly billing the county for more meals than there are
inmates inside the various lock-ups. “Is there any doubt in your mind that
there are overcharges here?” asks 7 Action News Investigator Heather Catallo of Wayne County Commissioner Ilona Varga. “No doubt in my
mind at all. No doubt. Numbers don’t lie,” says Varga. Varga also says a
preliminary audit reveals that the taxpayers may have been overcharged by
$6 million to $10 million for the meals. “It’s a lot of money, she adds.
“You could buy a lot of sheriff hours with that for the jail. So we would
not have to pay the overtime – that’s for sure. And every dollar
counts here at the county.” In addition to the audit, a spokeswoman for CEO
Robert Ficano says the county’s Management and
Budget Office started reviewing invoices from Continental/Canteen
Correctional Services after they were “advised of irregularities.” A
spokesman for Continental adamantly denies allegations of any overcharges
for Wayne County. He says the jail supervisors provide them with
daily inmate population counts, which determine how many meals Continental
Canteen serves each day. The spokesman is also offering to allow 7
Action News to review its internal records, but told us they were not
available to do that until next week. A spokesperson for the Wayne County
Sheriff also disputes that there has been millions of dollars in overcharges
for the food service contract. But Commissioner Varga
isn’t taking their word for it -- she wants to hold a hearing to get to the
bottom of allegations. “If we find anything wrong it will have to be turned
over to the authorities,” she says. “I’m sure with the FBI being in the
room already, at the county, this will be just one more thing they need to
look at.” The FBI Can’t specifically confirm what they’re investigating,
but sources tell me this jail food contract could certainly fall within the
scope of high value contracts in WC that are currently being scrutinized by
the feds. Meanwhile, they issued a statement today about a credit that it
is due the Sheriff's Office regarding the food service contract: “An
unexpected credit is in the works for the Wayne County Sheriff’s
Office. Officials recently discovered that food services were being
billed at the same rate of the previous year when the agreement called for
a 2.8 cent per meal reduction starting in the second year of the
contract. The change was outlined in the contract’s appendix, but was
never implemented to billing starting in fiscal year 2011-2012. The
discrepancy surfaced this week during an internal billing review by jail
officials.” “While the oversight amounts to a few cents per meal, as you
can see it adds up when you’re serving thousands of meals a day.
Those are resources we can certainly use elsewhere in our operation,” said
Chief of Jails Jeriel Heard in the statement.
Continental issued a similar statement about the credit due to the Wayne
County Sheriff's Office regarding the food service contract: “Under a
five-year contract with Wayne County, Continental Distributors provides
inmate food services at the county’s jail facilities, preparing and
delivering nutritious meals three times a day for the adult and juvenile
inmate population. Early this week, officials auditing outside contracts
with Wayne County notified the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department about
invoices it received for inmate food services that appeared to be inconsistent
with our contract with them. We reviewed the bills and found that a
multi-year discount triggered in the second year of our contract had not
been applied – something that both county supervisors and the company had
overlooked. We will credit the county for $237,000 and have taken
steps to avert the potential of a similar problem recurring. Continental
Distributors appreciates its partnership with Wayne County and its
important duty in delivering the thousands of meals ordered daily by the
Sheriff’s Department. The Sheriff’s Department places its orders for meals
based on the daily census of inmates, juveniles and detainees, as well as
other jail staff requirements, and we fulfill those orders in line with
those requests. Invoices are submitted to the county on a regular
basis and pricing is adjusted to reflect the number of meals the Sheriff’s
Department has validated it has received."
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