Lawsuit: Anamosa prison officials knew of staffing, safety issues before 2021 murders

ANAMOSA — An amended lawsuit filed by the parents of a nurse killed by two Anamosa prison inmates in 2021 contends prison officials had been previously warned about issues with safety radios not working, understaffing of correction officers, attempted escapes and prison nurses being held hostage.

Prison employees and inmates had warned defendants — Anamosa State Penitentiary, Iowa Department of Corrections, Iowa Prison Industries and former Warden Jeremy Larson — that conditions in the prison were unsafe, according to the amended lawsuit filed last week.

The safety radios didn’t work properly, the prison was understaffed, including in the infirmary, and there were not enough employees to respond in case of emergencies.

The wrongful death lawsuit, originally filed last year, also states in the amended petition that prison nurses previously had been held hostage and/or attacked by inmates in the infirmary, similar to what happened March 23, 2021. That day, Lorena Schulte, 50, of Cedar Rapids, and correctional officer Robert McFarland, 46, of Ely, were attacked by Thomas Woodward and Michael Dutcher with hammers they accessed without being supervised.

Schulte sustained blunt force head injuries and died as a result of the attack, according to the lawsuit filed by her parents, Stephanie and George Schulte, in Jones County District Court.

Schulte had a laceration to her right upper eyelid with underlying skull fractures, bleeding in her brain and blunt force injuries to her chest, left shoulder and right leg, according to the autopsy report attached to the lawsuit.

A prison dental assistant, Lori Mathes, and another inmate, McKinley Roby, also were injured during the attack.

Woodward, 34, and Dutcher, 28, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder, one count each of attempted murder and second-degree kidnapping. They were each sentenced to life in prison without parole.

According to the amended lawsuit, Woodward and/or Dutcher were unsupervised when they entered the storage area of the prison where the hammers and other tools were kept, which is in violation of prison policy. The inmates were not required to check out the hammers from the storage area and were not checked for weapons when they left the area.

The two inmates also were unsupervised when they came into the prison infirmary with weapons, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit also states prison and state officials knew these safety violations were in “dereliction of their duties” to set up appropriate safety policies and procedures regarding tool control, camera systems, communication systems, workplace violence prevention and security inspections.

The officials knew some of these issues violated Iowa’s Occupational Safety and Health Act, including those that could likely cause death and serious physical harm to employees because the prison had previously been cited for OSHA violations related to these failures, according to the lawsuit.

“Defendants knew that these safety violations made it probable that an employee would be injur(ed) or killed,” the suit states. “Defendants consciously failed to take any action to rectify these issues and exhibited willful and wanton disregard for the safety of employees and inmates at the Anamosa State Penitentiary.”

The lawsuit also contends Larson’s gross negligence caused this incident because he failed to take appropriate safety measures to prevent inmates from accessing tools without supervision.

After the attack, Larson was reassigned to another Corrections Department role. The Iowa Legislature also approved $20 million in additional money for the Corrections Department, with a large share to be used to fill vacancies.

After the attack, the department hired a consultant to launch a seven-month security review of Iowa’s prison system. While the majority of the report was never released to the public, a summary showed crowding and challenges in recruiting and retaining staff create potential security risks in Iowa’s nine prisons.

The consultant also said the Corrections Department needs to develop a better screening process to match offenders’ behavior history and characteristics to their work assignments, finding different prisons had different protocols for inmates to access tools and chemicals.

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