Guard Found Strangled in Chapel at Washington State Prison
- Posted on January 31, 2011 at 1:40am by
Scott Baker
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MONROE, Wash. (AP) — A corrections officer who had raised concerns about being the sole guard in the chapel of a Washington state prison was strangled there over the weekend, and an inmate serving a life sentence is the primary suspect, authorities said Sunday.
Jayme Biendl, 34, was found dead Saturday night in the chapel at Monroe Correctional Complex about 30 miles northeast of Seattle, Department of Corrections spokesman Chad Lewis said. She had been strangled with a microphone cord.
The male inmate, whose identity has not been released by authorities, was reported missing during a routine count at 9:14 p.m. Saturday. He was found three minutes later in the chapel lobby and told officers he had planned to escape.
“He is our primary suspect,” Monroe police spokeswoman Debbie Willis said. Biendl was fully clothed and there was no evidence of a sexual assault, Willis said.
Lewis said Biendl was ending her shift at 10 p.m. but had not reported back or turned in her equipment, which sparked concerns. Staff members immediately went to the chapel and found her unresponsive.
Emergency responders were called and Biendl was declared dead at 10:49 p.m.
The suspect is serving a life sentence without parole after being convicted of first-degree rape and kidnapping in 1997, 
Lewis said. He was being housed in a medium-security unit at the Monroe complex, which has five units with varying security levels.
The inmate has been isolated in a segregation unit, and the Monroe facility was in lockdown Sunday as detectives continued to investigate.
Biendl joined the Corrections Department in 2002. Teamsters 117 spokeswoman Tracey Thompson said Sunday that the officer had complained to her union shop steward and prison supervisors about being the sole guard working in the chapel. She worried about being there alone without anyone checking on her, Thompson said.
Recent budget cuts have forced staffing reductions and union members have been worried about the impact of those reductions on safety, Thompson said.
“We have been pushing so hard on safety issues,” Thompson said. “It makes me crazy that it took someone getting murdered inside a prison while doing their job for there to be attention on this work and how difficult and dangerous it can be.”
Gov. Chris Gregoire issued a statement Sunday saying she had asked Department of Corrections Secretary Eldon Vail to thoroughly review the incident and look at the safeguards in place at the Monroe complex.
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Comments (145)
Fina Biscotti
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 6:16amAbsolutely awful.
Better living through electricity…..
Report Post »cykonas
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 6:12amMy condolences to the officer and her family. Adding to this tragedy is that it was 100% preventable by just using common sense law enforcement precautions. The DOC in Washington is culpable, in my opinion, and should be dealt with accordingly.
Report Post »bigdeg
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 5:21amMy deepest sympethies for the family, and may GOD bless them.
Report Post »philnk
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 5:18amThere are too many lazy aholes behind desks. This is a nation of white collar losers. We better start getting serious about breaking a sweat for a living.
Report Post »ZeitgeistBuster
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 5:15amMy prayers for this young lady’s family. The blood in my veins just turned ice cold.
My mom works in a prison as a case manager. It worries me.
The people who work with the criminal element who are serving time need to be given everything they need to do their job. It is the same as under arming and imposing insane Rules of Engagement on our military. Either make sure they have more than they need to do the damn job, or move aside and let someone else more competent replace your sorry ass (politicians), so that the good guys don’t take unnecessary hits on the chin for us.
The more I see of the “criminal justice system” in the modern world, the more facinated I am to note that when God gave Moses the civil part of the government of ancient Israel, there is NO provision in any of the statutes or judgements for encarcelation. NONE!
Our system turns those who commit petty crimes into hardened criminals who are a menace to society because of their time in the meat grinder that is our prison system.
By contrast, under the civil code of Ancient Israel, If you stole something, you paid it back double. If you perjured yourself, you were assesed a fine. If you were found guilty of murder, then you were executed. But the idea of jail time as a way to pay your debt to society would be seen as foolish.
By the way… Eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth is a PRINCIPLE OF JURISPRUDENCE, that just means that the judges are to rule in such a way that the punishment fits the crime. If we followed this principle today, the lady who spilled McDonalds coffee on her lap would NEVER have a chance of being awarded 20 million dollars. A day’s pay and any medical, … oh and another cup of coffee is about where Eye for an Eye would guide you in that ridiculous case.
It’s time for us to wise up and learn from the past. We are far from doing the best we can do.
Report Post »Rapunzel
Posted on February 1, 2011 at 4:20pmWhat a brilliant post, especially the clarification on ‘eye for an eye.’
Report Post »FLDeb
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 5:00amWashington St will just do what many other states are doing like CA and just start turning them all loose. I’m with several other posters. The feds/states should not be allowed to cut funding on any security/protection programs of the citizens. Well I take that back, they can defund Homeland Security today, IMHO it has been a waste of money and has not done anything for our protection.
Not until all the handouts are stopped. The entitlement programs have to be abolished. All the programs that hands out money for nothing the feds adopted was with the sole purpose of making the population dependent on them. Ask how many people want to abolish S.S. Noooooo they need the government to take care of them. That is “THEIR” money don’t ya know. They learned their math skills in progressive schools is MO.
Report Post »Endstatism
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 4:39amWhy was this guy in a medium security unit to begin with? With his record he should have been executed or at the very least be locked up in maximum security.Liberals will always cut police officers.firefighters and corrections, but no we cant cut social programs. Children and mommies will be starving if we cut entitlements so says the lefties. It is some of those very same social programs that create criminals. I pity the good people of Washington because their entire state is essentially a dictatorship of Seattle and King County
Report Post »Madcat151
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 3:39amanother victim of PC nation horsemanure.
Report Post »Women cannot do what men do they do not belong in mens prisons or in police uniforms.
And anyone that thinks they do is completely fornicated in the head.
benrush
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 3:11amgovernment screws up everything it touches. If the federal government weren’t in the pockets of every American, we would have the cash we need to settle these problems before they started. The federal income tax was unconstitutional and so was the Federal Reserve.
Funny how they both began with Wilson.
Report Post »Emil
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 2:54amAnd guess what, seeing as the murderous thug is already serving life without parole, what are they going to do, take away his TV privileges?
Report Post »Rich B
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 3:05amNo, they can execute them after all the jury found them guilty and so did all of their appeals!!
Report Post »Emil
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 2:51amHmmmm dotch’a wish you had the death penalty? Let’s see, murderous thug dead from OD of lethal drugs administered by trained state employee, = Jayme still alive and being there for her family…are you happy liberals?
Report Post »dnaburns
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 3:00amWe do have it here in washington state one of the last that does hanging but the last time they were going to use it the guy on death row intentionally got really fat and then sued saying his head would pop off and they ruled that would be cruel and unusual punishment, since then they haven’t tried to execute anybody
Report Post »pamela kay
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 2:46amI am just saying that women are an easier target and once overcome by strength usually are raped and killed, especially in a prison situation.
Report Post »dnaburns
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 2:38amI have a close family member who is a guard at Monroe and he said that she was raped, but DOC is trying to cover their ass because she has complained recently and there was another attended rape of a female guard recently. This whole messcan be traced back to the liberals who run this state this woman was about 130 5′3“ and yet because ”men and woman are completely equl in the liberals eyes she was placed in a position where she had to supervise men who were easily double her size. Then theiberals say well the prisoners need religious privacy so they took the cameras out of the chapel and then the guy who did it is a serial rapist and suppose to be in a maximum security prison not a medium security prison like Monroe but the ultra liberal superintendent aka warden gave him a waiver. Then to top it all off they are trying to save money so they cut the training program on new hires and cut the guard staff first. This guy is now on a suicide watch if it were me I’d give home some rope and kick the chair out!!
Report Post »QuietRiot
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 2:27amThis dude needs to ride the lightening………..
Report Post »tking357
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 3:12amNope red ant hill in AZ along side the guy who shot the congresswoman! Only the best for these two! Bury and leave only head out and put it up on a web cam for all criminals to see, repeat offenders beware!
Report Post »Gurgi
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 2:22amI am against women working in male prisons as anything other than secretarial staff. Same as I am against women in combat. Something seems really dumb about forcing this on society.
Report Post »Diane TX
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 2:41amI agree. She had expressed her fears about working alone, but no one listened. Thirty-four is much too young to die at the hands of some misfit of society. I hope that he gets the death penalty this time around. When “life in prison” is one’s sentence, adding another “life in prison” has zero meaning. Execute this scum.
Report Post »Rob
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 6:35amBut society is so much better now that woman are out of the home and working…. it is so good for the children.
Report Post »Insipid
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 7:10amRob to a poaint. It has also contributed to the breakdown of the family as well. I am all for equal rights but I am also for a solid family foundation but, I do believe women are equal and deserve the same opportunity as men, unfortunately there is a price for everything in this world and I feel teh family unit pays.
Report Post »HillKid8
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 1:59pmI have a sister who worked in a prison as a guard, bad mistake. it ended in desaster like our family had never seen before. the only way it could have been worse is if she had been killed. no women in guys prison EVER.
Report Post »Edgar Bennet
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 2:16amRIP Ms Biendl
Elephant in the room? Anyone?
Report Post »Separation of the sexes? Should female guards really work at a male prison?
cheezwhiz
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 2:35amGood question
Here is a recent report and it still bothers me because it did not have to happen
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_16733330
Report Post »pamela kay
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 2:40amOk Edgar, I guess that I am the elephant. Sorry. I still think some jobs are unsafe for women.
Report Post »Rich B
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 3:03amPamela Kay, you’re not the elephant or whatever, just sounds like a common sense response. You might want to add small framed men as well as women… And to the writer that mentioned workout equipment to make criminals stronger… Right On Bro!!!
Report Post »Edgar Bennet
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 1:21pmIf nothing else … they’re ALWAYS going to be the FIRST mark a convict would go for.
And totally agree with the weight lifting. This society has gotten so litigious that our convicts come out not a changed person many times but a Super Criminal. From initial incarceration they come out with 5x the knowledge of both crime and their rights along with becoming enormous. Awesome
Report Post »NOKOOLAIDFORMETHANKS
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 2:15amMy condolences to the family of this young lady.
Report Post »pamela kay
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 2:15amI am going to take so much heat for this but……..women should not be hired for this type of work. I am sorry but there is no way she could have overpowered this monster once he had control.. I agree that women should recieve the same pay as men if they do the same job but there are some jobs that require a man, and this is one of them.( I think that makes me a female chauvanistic pig, sorry) My prayers go out for her family and friends.
Report Post »GONESURFING
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 2:21amVery sad, yes rest in peace.
Report Post »GONESURFING
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 2:22amI agree with you 100%
Report Post »Rapunzel
Posted on February 1, 2011 at 4:15pmI agree with you completely. We are different, and have different skills and abilities. It is a little out of context but still applies – “Haven’t you read that from the beginning He created them male and female?” God made men and women different for a reason, that they may complement one another as suitable ‘helpmeets’.
Report Post »Supreme Galooti
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 2:12amJudges who allow prisoners to buff up should have to spend a year in prison with them. Also, their diets shouldn’t support more than 70% recommended body weight. Keep ‘em puny. Life imprisonment? OK, but no visitors ever including attorneys. One book a year to read, and it must be seriously religious in nature – ie: the bible, the koran, book of Mormon, etc. No fresh air, no sunlight. No TV. No radio. No outside news of any nature. Mama died? You’ll find out when you meet her in the afterlife….
Don’t like them apples? Don’t get sentenced to life.
Report Post »hkyfan36
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 5:15amI agree. I don’t want the prisioner comming out to go right back in. Prision is not a place to go get your teeth fixed.
Report Post »HillKid8
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 1:55pmWe are turning out Mega monsters. If all they do in prison is work out and become more involved in gangs, what the hell good is that? make them put on bunny pajammas and serve sleepy time coolaid all day long. hard to look tuff with bunny jammies on.
Report Post »SilentReader
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 2:11amWhat a tragedy.
My condolences go out to Jayme Biendl’s family and friends.
RIP Jayme.
Report Post »Rich B
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 2:07amWatching criminals is always dangerous… to have only one guard on duty was a BAD decision by the prison.
Report Post »I sure hope they execute this guy, life sentence is too good for him.
Robert-CA
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 2:54amAll jails now should review their policy .
Report Post »Showtime
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 1:54amI’ll pray for her family. How awful for her child or children, if she was a mother.
Even convenience stores don’t usually let people work alone at night.
This is horrible news.
Report Post »catmandolin
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 2:02amConvenience stores do indeed require employees to work alone at night and have done so for many decades. With Big Business it’s always about profits over people…
Report Post »RobertCA
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 2:23am@ CATMANDOLIN
it’s not the fault of big business , it’s the fault of thugs & criminals , also many business owners lost their own life in their convenience stores , thugs & criminals even attacks armored money trucks & also in this case the prison should review all their safety policies .
Report Post »catmandolin
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 2:29am@Roberta; Uhm, my comment about Big Business was in response to SHOWTIME’S erroneous comment about convenience stores and their policies regarding late night employees….
Report Post »RobertCA
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 2:48am@ CATMANDOLIN
Yep I know & everybody likes to make profits including me .
Report Post »I hope that a memo will be send out to all the prisons to review their security procedures .
catmandolin
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 1:55pm@Roberta; Yup, everyone likes to make a profit. It looks like the prison was trying to make a profit by having guards on duty alone. I wouldn’t call their money saving policy successful though…but that’s just me….
Report Post »Enuff Zenuff
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 1:54amThe bleeding hearts who think that a life sentence without parole will keep him safe from harming others have a lot of explaining to do.! This p.o.s. convicted rapist/kidnapper should have been executed ten years ago.
Report Post »silentwatcher
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 2:05amWashington has a death penalty?
Report Post »Zaphod
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 7:01amIsn‘t Washington one of the last state’s that has the gallows? At least it did a few years ago …
Report Post »blacksmith
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 12:15pm@ zaphod
Report Post »I do not know if they still do but they should. It is one of the greenest forms of execution and saves valuble resources. The prisoner uses his own weight to execute himself and you can always reuse the rope!
armorbearer
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 6:08pmCouldn’t agree more!
Report Post »hkyfan36
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 1:48amThats terrible that the union lost a paying member. I will mourn for the unions loss. “sarcasim”
My thoughts and prayers go out to her family and friends. I am sure she will be missed.
Report Post »RobertCA
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 1:59amThe first part is bad , you corrected it in the second part .
Report Post »This criminal should be put down asap , I don’t wanna pay for his food & drinks & his medical care .
catmandolin
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 2:06amDid you mean “sarcasm”? It looks like you were in such a hurry to make your ridiculous, unnecessary point that you lost your ability to even construct a coherent sentence.
What a horrible loss for her family, friends and colleagues. He deserves the death penalty…
Report Post »A Doctors Labor Is Not My Right
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 2:15am“Thats terrible that the union lost a paying member. I will mourn for the unions loss.”
I understood the point that @hkyfan36 was making. The Progressives in power will do anything to keep their strangle hold on the country, including making it unsafe to work in prisons in order to frighten the people into supporting Union labor.
Point well taken.
Report Post »hkyfan36
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 2:17am@Catman
Report Post »Yes I did mean to say sarcasm. Thank you for your corrective critisism.
catmandolin
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 2:23amDid you mean corrective criticism?
Report Post »dnaburns
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 3:06amHey he’s right the unions in washington state do very little for the employees except line the union bosses pockets with cash since their allies control the state their has been no reason to do anything but raise dues, ahh but now their partners in crime are slashing the unions income by laying off and cutting salaries and now all of a sudden the union is pisst at the likes of gregorire
Report Post »RobertCA
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 1:43amR I P Jayme Biendl .
Report Post »cheezwhiz
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 1:52amWhats going on in that state?
Report Post »They lost 2 officers outside a walmart just a few days ago …
R I P Jayme Biendl
silentwatcher
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 2:03amwhy does it take someone decent to die before it gets their attention. a similar incident in southern michigan in 1994.
Report Post »dnaburns
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 3:02am@ Chezwiz No they didn’t die just got shot, the perp and his honey bought though.
Report Post »Mikeyyy
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 3:22amso sad.
im sorry, but the family should sue if she complained that there was a safety issue, and the officials denied because of lack of funds. make them pay a 10 million settlement, and then safety for the guards might be increased.
i also think female guards should be watching female prisoners and male guards should watch male prisoners. there should be segregation for safety and rape reasons. too many cases where male guards are raping female prisoners, and female guards are getting overpowered and murdered by prisoners in for murder.
79USMC83
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 4:55amWhere were the cameras?? Most prisons have everything under survelliance cameras and reaction teams. God Bless her family!!
Report Post »nothingbuthetruth
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 5:50amcomplaining to your union doesnt get anywhere anymore. They are about the money and pushing their political agenda. Ask Teamsters pres.Commie- Trumpka
Report Post »Poor girl, she was brave to show up to work every day
PCR
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 6:24amRIP Jayme Biendl, and deepest condolences to her relatives and friends. Correct me someone if I’m wrong, but I had been under the impression that ever since the Lindberg Baby kidapping case, kidnapping with bodily harm, even accidental, and even a minor injury, has been al capital offense under Federal Law. If this is the case, how is it that one who has committed a kidnapping with rape was not given the death penalty? Our lax justice system, along with the farcical intermindable delays by which those sentenced to death contiune to bleed the taxpayers that they savaged, and eventually die of old age, is in large part as guilty for the murder of this brave guard as her actual killer.
Report Post »grandmaof5
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 8:22amVery very sad and, obviously, preventable. Like I maintain, unions are only there for political gain, not for their members, as is evident here. They have outlived their usefulness for the people they represent.
Report Post »ishka4me
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 9:18amI am a retired prison guard or as they now say it“correctional officer” Thisis a prime example of why we need the death penalty. Whenyou lock them up for life, socipaths still have many opportunities to kill guards, teachers, social workers, clergy, nurses, volunteers maintenance workers and other inmates. In my career there were many murders inside the prison walls committed by convicted murderers, never mind the rapes and vicious assaults.with budget cuts to prisons, the first to go is security, never the fringe benefits the inmates receive.
Report Post »FormerLib
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 10:41amIt’s really tragic this happened, but come on…who seriously thinks it‘s a good idea to have attractive blonde female guards in a men’s prison? This happened because of the mistaken notion that ‘women can do anything a man can do”. Don’t even get me started on the firefighters, cops and soldiers I‘ve talked with who fear for their lives because they’re forced to work with someone who may or may not be up to the job when it counts.That’s not a slam on women, but just a fact that sometimes size and physical strength DO matter.
Report Post »gramma b
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 10:58amFormerlib. I hear ya. When my son went through the academy a few years ago, he was disgusted at the way the standards were deliberately lowered so that they could graduate the female cadets. It is a farce. If this had been a male guard, what are the odds he could have been overcome by a single male prisoner? But, since it is a female, I guess the taxpayers are supposed to pay for an additional guard so that she can be safe.
Report Post »Xcori8r
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 11:10amIf the rapist was in shackles and carrying a ball and chain he probably could not have murdered that woman.
Report Post »Evileye
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 11:12amThings Are not good here in the People’s republic of Washington state.
Report Post »Who in there right minds would let a lifer rapist in a area alone with a women.
The way they think here, if segregated his right would be some how infringed.
Using a needle to put a inmate to sleep before execution is cruel?
anyone that has had major surgery have been sedated the same way, that cruel?
How about the cruel way they treated the victim.
If you defend yourself you might be the one in trouble.
After all the perpetrator mom probably did change his diaper when he was a kid and warped his mind
hickoryrat
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 11:31amIf the slime suspect had been executed in 1997 as he deserved he would not have had the opportunity to
Report Post »kill this officer.
CatB
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 12:59pmI know this is going to sound “sexist” .. but I am a woman so perhaps I have some slack with this … I do not think Women should be guards in MALE prisons .. the prisioners havie nothing better to do than eat and bulk up .. while women are usually weaker in upper body strength then men to begin with. I applied for a job with the state of Michigan for many years (computer jobs).. and they kept offering me jobs to work in the office at the male prision .. as the only support of my son (dead-beat dad) I refused ..
Report Post »passionateteen
Posted on January 31, 2011 at 5:47pm@ Xcori8r
Report Post »if the rapist had been carrying a ball and chain he could have used that to kill her though, I say just put him in extra restraints.