Mother of nurse murdered in Anamosa prison attack files new lawsuit

ANAMOSA — A lawsuit filed by the mother of a nurse killed by two Anamosa prison inmates in 2021 was dismissed last year because the nurse’s estate was inadvertently closed, but a new lawsuit was filed this week.

The legal claims are similar to the first lawsuit, but the defendants — employees of the Anamosa State Penitentiary and Iowa Department of Corrections — have been individually named for their role in the gross negligence/wrongful death petition. Some of the named defendants have retired or are no longer with the prison or the department.

Stephanie Schulte, as the mother and administrator of nurse Lorena Schulte’s estate, refiled her lawsuit Tuesday in Jones County District Court against former Anamosa State Penitentiary Warden Jeremy Larson and 10 other officials.

The first lawsuit was dismissed because a judge ruled Stephanie Schulte lacked standing — the right to sue — because Lorena Schulte’s estate was mistakenly closed Aug. 1, 2022, after the lawsuit was filed in April 2021. The estate was reopened in April 2023.

The court also found Stephanie Schulte didn’t exhaust her administrative remedies — filing claims with the Iowa State Appeal Board.

The new lawsuit states two claims were submitted to the appeal board and, when the board didn’t respond after six months, they were withdrawn — meaning Schulte had “exhausted all administrative remedies” under Iowa law and could file a civil action.

New petition

The new petition contends the prison and department officials had been warned about safety issues at the prison, including radios not working, understaffing of correction officers, attempted escapes, prison nurses being held hostage and not enough employees to respond to emergencies.

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Prison nurses previously had been held hostage and/or attacked by inmates in the infirmary, similar to what happened March 23, 2021, when Lorena Schulte, 50, of Cedar Rapids, and correctional officer Robert McFarland, 46, of Ely, were attacked by inmates Thomas Woodward and Michael Dutcher as they attempted to escape.

They armed themselves with hammers and other tools from the storage area while unsupervised, the lawsuit contends. They were not checked for weapons when they left the storage area and were not required to check out the tools as part of the Prisons Industries program — all in violation of prison policy.

Schulte died of blunt force head injuries. McFarland also died from being bludgeoned. A prison dental assistant, Lori Mathes, and another inmate, McKinley Roby, also were injured.

Woodward, then 34, and Dutcher, then 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.

The lawsuit claims prison and state officials knew these safety violations were in “dereliction of their duties” and failed 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 OSHA had previously cited the prison for violations, according to the lawsuit.

“Defendants knew that these safety violations made it probable that an employee would be injured 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.”

Named defendants

The prison or Department of Corrections employees named as defendants in the 11 gross negligence/wrongful death legal claims are:

The suit contends each defendant failed to provide a safe working environment, sufficient staffing, training and safety protocol and failed to screen inmates for the prison industries program and follow safety policies to prevent inmate attacks of employees and respond to their complaints.

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.

The department also hired a consultant to undertake a seven-month security review of Iowa’s prison system following the murders. While the majority of the report was never released to the public, a summary showed crowding and challenges in recruiting and retaining staff created potential security risks in Iowa’s nine prisons.

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com