Family of slain Anamosa prison nurse files new lawsuit against state
The family of a prison nurse killed in an attempted breakout at Anamosa State Penitentiary nearly three years ago has filed a new lawsuit accusing the state of negligence in failing to prevent her death.
Nurse Lorena Schulte, 50, and correctional officer Robert McFarland, 46, were killed in the attack on March 23, 2021, when prisoners Michael Dutcher and Thomas Woodard Jr. used stolen hammers and other tools to try to break through bars covering the infirmary windows at the then-maximum security prison. Another prison employee was briefly taken hostage and an inmate who was a bystander was seriously injured.
Both Dutcher and Woodard, who were serving sentences for Sioux City-area robberies, were apprehended before they could escape. They pleaded guilty to murder and now are serving life sentences.
The new complaint, filed Tuesday, is the second by Schulte's family against the state. Their previous lawsuit was dismissed by a judge in September due to a lack of standing at the time the case was filed.
The new lawsuit seeks to correct that issue and reinstate the family's claim: that the Anamosa prison was understaffed, its workers undertrained and inadequately equipped, and its policies ignored in ways that allowed the two prisoners to carry out the deadly attack.
March 2021 breakout attempt left 2 dead
Woodard and Dutcher had jobs working on the prison maintenance detail. An investigation found they were able to obtain the hammers and an angle grinder from a tool locker for their breakout attempt. Both McFarland and Schulte were killed by hammer blows to the head.
The two would-be escapees were unable to break through the window bars and were apprehended soon after as they ran from the infirmary. A Des Moines Register investigation found Dutcher was allowed access to tools despite a history of assaulting jail officers and plotting escape attempts.
The Register also found that state cuts had left staffing at Iowa prisons before the attack near their lowest level in 30 years.
In the wake of the attack, the Iowa Department of Corrections replaced Anamosa's warden and in 2023 announced it planned to transfer all maximum-security inmates out of Anamosa and make the facility exclusively medium-security. Built in the 1870s, the fortress-like building has blind corners and other design issues that make it more difficult to operate securely.
In previous court filings, Schulte's family has alleged prison officials had failed to take action on known security shortcomings, including inadequate staffing, unreliable safety radios, and prior hostage-taking incidents in the infirmary.
What happened to Schulte's first lawsuit?
The Schulte family's first attempt to sue the state was dismissed last year due to an administrative error by the plaintiffs. The family sued on behalf of Schulte's estate, but the estate already had been legally closed by the time they filed their complaint. Although they later had the estate reopened, by that time the statute of limitations for their claims had passed and the court ruled they had to be dismissed.
Judge Chad Kepros wrote he was "sympathetic to the plaintiffs’ tragic situation" but was legally compelled to find they lacked legal standing at the time they filed the lawsuit. He also agreed with the state that the family had failed to properly exhaust the state's process for civil legal liability claims before bringing their case.
What's in the new complaint?
Tuesday's complaint follows several new claims the family filed with the state.
The family's original complaint included claims of gross negligence and emotional distress against Anamosa's then-warden, Jeremy Larson, as well as loss of consortium against Larson and the state. It also brought claims under the Iowa Constitution, which the Iowa Supreme Court in a separate case ruled last year are no longer viable.
The new complaint again claims gross negligence, this time by nearly a dozen state officials, including Larson, Department of Corrections Director Beth Skinner and other leaders at both the department and the prison. The complaint also accuses all defendants of intentional infliction of emotional distress and Schulte's daughter's loss of her mother's "aid, companionship, cooperation, and adult-child consortium and affection."
The state has not yet filed a response in court. The Iowa Attorney General's Office did not respond to a request for comment and the Department of Correctionsdid not have a statement when asked about the suit.
William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com or 715-573-8166.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: In new suit, Anamosa prison nurse's family claims negligence in murder
