Arbitrator orders reversal of firing of prison officers

MONROE — An arbitrator has ordered the state Department of Corrections to reverse the firings of three Monroe Correctional Complex officers and the demotion of one sergeant after the 2011 murder of officer Jayme Biendl.

The department must offer the officers their former jobs back, officials said Tuesday. The individual employees then will decide if they want to return. They will receive back pay either way.

The ruling is final and binding, a union spokeswoman said.

Biendl was slain at her post in the prison chapel. At the time, prison officials accused several officers of misconduct, dereliction of duty and of purposely misleading investigators after the death. The state also accused the officers of dishonesty.

Teamsters Local 117 on Tuesday called for “sweeping reform” at the prison and accused the department of pointing fingers at people instead of addressing the underlying issues.

“From the very beginning, we thought it was ridiculous that the department was scapegoating line staff,” Teamsters Secretary-Treasurer Tracey Thompson said Tuesday.

State corrections officials on Tuesday were reviewing the ruling and talking about what happens next, department spokesman Chad Lewis said in a prepared statement.

Lewis acknowledged that complacency had been a problem at Monroe but said that was no excuse.

“We took disciplinary action because of the serious nature of the staff members’ actions — including falsifying documents and lying to police investigators — which does not accurately represent the professionalism of our staff,” he said. “We can only be an effective agency if we hold ourselves accountable for our actions, which we did in this case.”

In the days after the killing, the union blamed the department’s top brass. Privately, though, people who were working at the prison that night said Biendl’s colleagues were partially responsible.

People who could have checked on Biendl weren’t where they were supposed to be, officers told The Herald. Those statements were repeated during the aggravated murder trial of the inmate who took her life.

Michael Cavanaugh, the arbitrator, found that safety failures were widespread at the prison, and that it was unfair to blame individual employees for an institutional problem, according to the 54-page ruling released Tuesday.

The arbitrator was less convinced that officers had been dishonest about what happened that night. He said some of the discrepancies in their statements could be attributed to sloppiness and inattention to detail, as well as poor job performance and bad supervisory practices. The complacency caused officers to overlook the constant potential for violence posed by inmates, the arbitrator wrote.

One of the officers was not at his post outside the chapel the night Biendl was strangled, documents showed. Detectives found that if the officer had been where he was supposed to be, inmate Byron Scherf may not have had the opportunity to attack.

Scherf, a convicted rapist already serving a life sentence, in May was sentenced to death for the killing. He had admitted to looking for the opportunity to ambush Biendl, knowing the other officer likely wouldn’t be outside. Scherf went outside the chapel to look for the officer before closing the outer gate and returning to kill Biendl. Scherf mentioned the empty post in a letter he sent to prison officials a few months later.

That officer was not properly supervised and rules weren’t consistenly enforced about remaining at his post, the arbitrator wrote. In addition, he and the other officers had multiple supervisors who held them to different standards. There was not an adquate history of discipline to support termination, the ruling states.

While the arbitrator didn’t recommend even a letter of reprimand for the officer, he did note that the man has failed to acknowledge his role in what happened that night, and has demonstrated “no humility and insufficient acceptance of personal responsibility.”

However, the report also notes: “While the consequences of that complacency are painfully clear in retrospect, the fact that it was widespread before the murder cautions strongly against singling out one complacent front-line officer for substantially more significant discipline than others when something goes wrong, as it did here.”

The arbitrator found that the sergeant who was demoted likely was overwhelmed with his duties and was too busy with paperwork to keep up on discipline for his wandering officer. The team of officers he oversaw also had internal conflicts, and he was wary of micromanaging them, the report says.

The sergeant acknowledged that lack of documentation made it difficult to prove he’d told the officer to stay at his post.

The union and the state picked a neutral arbitrator after grievance talks fell through, Thompson said. The process for dispute was guided by their contract.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether the officers will return to work at the prison, she said.

“There’s a huge stigma assumed to having been terminated” after the killing, she said. “I don’t know what kind of personal decisions these folks will make.”

The officer who wasn’t at his post that night since has changed his name, the ruling said.

The Anacortes-based arbitrator reviewed an estimated 1,780 pages of documents, in addition to six notebooks of exhibits, before filing his decision this week.

After Biendl’s killing, investigations were conducted by both the state Department of Labor &Industries and the National Institute of Corrections, as well as an internal review. Numerous safety problems were found and changes were made, including more training, adding security advisory committees, shift changes to increase staffing at peak prisoner movement times, and tighter screening of how inmates are classified and assigned jobs.

Scherf had been classified as a medium-custody inmate despite notes in his file describing him as cunning, predatory and dangerous. The file said he posed a serious risk to female employees due to his history of attacks on women.

Why Scherf was classified as medium-security, allowing him to work in the chapel as a volunteer, is a question that’s never been answered.

After the killing, the overall inmate population at the Washington State Reformatory also was reduced, and the department issued body alarms to officers assigned there.

The pilot program for the alarms is going well, Lewis said Tuesday. The department would need additional funding from the Legislature to expand it, he said.

Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Alex Hanson looks over sections of the Herald and sets the ink on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Black Press, publisher of Everett’s Daily Herald, is sold

The new owners include two Canadian private investment firms and a media company based in the southern United States.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.