WILMINGTON, Del. – A counselor who was taken hostage and raped by an inmate in July harshly criticized Delaware’s Department of Correction, saying it is plagued by mismanagement and inadequate, often incompetent, staffing.

Cassandra Arnold lashed out at the governor, the prison warden and the guards on duty when she was seized.

“There are a lot of people’s lives that are in jeopardy,” said Arnold, 27. “Inmates aren’t safe and the staff aren’t safe.”

Arnold barely survived the harrowing ordeal at the Delaware Correctional Center in Smyrna, which lasted almost seven hours and ended with the shooting death of her attacker, serial rapist Scott Miller, 45.

Arnold said at least three guards were on the scene when Miller grabbed her, but none attempted to overpower him before he barricaded himself in her office.

She also said she was raped after warden Thomas Carroll refused repeated requests to talk to Miller, who wanted to be moved to another prison. Instead, hours into the standoff, Carroll sent a one-sentence note informing Miller that he would have the opportunity to talk only after Arnold was released.

Enraged by Carroll’s response, Miller bound and raped Arnold, saying he had “nothing to lose.”

“He asked to talk to the warden the whole time, and it never happened, and I was raped,” Arnold said as she wept. “I felt abandoned, like no one cared at all.”

The final insult, she said, was Gov. Ruth Ann Minner’s comment after the incident that “in prisons, you almost expect this to happen.”

“I am truly insulted by that statement,” Arnold said.