The Associated Press
SEATTLE — State officials and others are searching for answers after a corrections officer was found strangled with a microphone cord in the prison chapel at the Monroe Correction Complex.
Gov. Chris Gregoire says she has asked Corrections Secretary Eldon Vail to thoroughly review the incident and look at safeguards in place. The Seattle Times reports that while the department routinely conducts internal reviews of major incidents, Vail says he is considering asking that an external agency look into the case.
Union officials say the officer, 34-year-old Jayme Biendl, had raised concerns about being the only guard in the chapel. She was found dead Saturday night, an hour after inmate Byron Scherf was found in the chapel lobby.
The 52-year-old Scherf had been reported missing minutes earlier during a routine count. Police say he’s the primary suspect in the woman’s death.
