CLALLAM BAY— A prison guard was the only corrections officer supervising 104 inmates in the laundry and garment area when he was taken hostage Wednesday during a botched escape attempt.
The unidentified guard, armed with only handcuffs and a radio, was one of two corrections officers assigned to that shift at the Clallam Bay Corrections Center.
He was left to supervise the inmates, assigned to clean the prison’s laundry and make uniforms, by himself at about 10 a.m. when his partner left the room to take a 30-minute lunch break — standard staffing practice in state prisons.
Inmates Dominick Maldonado, convicted of wounding seven people during a 2005 shooting rampage at Tacoma Mall, and Kevin Newland, convicted of murder, seized the opportunity.
Maldonado, with scissors in hand, took the solo guard hostage while Newland, who murdered Spokane teenager Jamie Lynn Drake in 2006, grabbed his keys and unlocked a forklift chained to a wall.
Newland was killed in the escape attempt while Maldonado, who is serving a 163-year sentence, faces additional charges.
Clallam Bay Corrections Center Superintendent Ron Fraker acknowledged Thursday that the inmates exploited the opportunity but said it’s unlikely that having two officers present at the time would have prevented one from being taken hostage.
The two inmates, both 25 and assigned to sewing machines, had prepared for the escape attempt by sewing food, water containers and medication into their clothing, prison officials said.
Other prison staff assigned to the industries area rushed to notify security staff, but not before Newland hopped onto the electric forklift, which he crashed through a rollup door and into the prison’s two perimeter fences.
A corrections officer conducting firearms training nearby outside the facility fatally shot Newland after firing a warning shot and issuing verbal commands.
Maldonado followed his cohort outside with his hostage but surrendered immediately after seeing Newland shot.
The prison will remain on lockdown for at least the next few days while an investigation is conducted, said state Department of Corrections spokesman Chad Lewis.
Prison officials said the staff acted admirably by stopping two violent criminals from escaping.
“You have got to be very proud of that,” said Dan Pocholke, state deputy prisons director.
But would it have happened if there was more than one officer in the room at the time?
Per prison policy, neither was armed with a gun, pepper spray, a baton or a stun gun out of concern that such weapons could be seized by an inmate, prison officials said.
“I think he could have been taken hostage,” said Fraker, who has worked at the prison since 1990.
“Whether they would have done that is another question at this time.”
Fraker said the number of officers assigned to any area of the prison is based on a model that takes into account available staff, the number of inmates and their tendency toward violence.
Lewis said the model is used statewide, and neither he nor Fraker said they expect that to change, despite the attack.
Lewis said the National Institute of Corrections determined the state’s model to be as good or better than the national average after investigating the death of Monroe Correctional Complex Officer Jayme Biendl, who was killed while working alone with an inmate in January.
“I don’t think it will make a lot of sense to look at it again,” Lewis said.
“I don’t think it will find anything different.”
Clallam Bay employs about 250 corrections officers, he said, and houses about 850 inmates. The number of officers has not been reduced due to budget cuts, Lewis said.
Biendl’s death prompted Teamsters Local 117, which represents corrections officers, to hold rallies around the state in March protesting what they saw as poor safety oversight. Rallies were held in Port Angeles and Forks.
Local 117 spokesman Paul Zilly said Corrections “can always do more to improve safety conditions” but added that the union is not commenting on Wednesday’s hostage taking and escape attempt until more is known about the incident.
“We need to have a broader picture of exactly what happened before we can say what it was that caused this,” he said.
In response to Biendl’s death, Corrections has increased checkups on officers working solo posts, Lewis said. That was done with the help of a $6 million infusion of state funds.
But due to staffing limitations, having one guard on duty in an area can’t always be avoided, Fraker and Lewis said, even for 30 minutes.
Lewis said that is typical for prisons around the United States.
“Eventually, you have to operate in reality,” he said. “Just like any other job, you have limited staff.”
Still, some changes are coming.
Lewis said Corrections plans to issue pepper spray to some guards shortly in response to Biendl’s death.
Guns at state prisons are limited to officers in guard towers and each prison’s armory, Lewis said.
New panic buttons are expected that would be placed near the officers’ shoulder rather than a radio. The guard taken hostage was unable to use his radio’s panic button, Lewis said.
Corrections has also reduced shifts from 8.5 hours to eight hours at the Monroe prison.
That move, which may be implemented statewide in the next few months, would have required the second guard to eat at his post, Fraker said.
Overall, prison violence is down 20 percent over the past four years, according to a Corrections report.
Prison staff attribute that to taking a less confrontational approach to inmates.
That includes keeping a close eye on behavioral changes and doing fewer “forced-cell extractions,” Lewis said.
“What we have been doing has worked,” he said.
Fraker said violence has been down significantly at Clallam Bay since he started working there 11 years ago.
He attributed that to focusing more on de-escalating situations through verbal commands.
“It has to do a lot with attitude and how we treat the offenders and try to work with them,” Fraker said.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
