Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Prison Guards Stabbed By Prescott Death Row Inmate

Two prison guards were stabbed by a death-row inmate Thursday, May 30 at the Tucker Maximum Security Unit.

The prisoner in question was Kirt Wainwright, 30, who was sentenced to death for the killing of Prescott convenience store clerk, Barbara Smith, July 29, 1988. He is also serving a life sentence for the slaying of convenience store clerk Karen Ross on July 30, 1988 in Hope.

At the time of the stabbing, Wainwright was being led from an exercise yard back to his cell on death row. He somehow managed to free one arm from his handcuffs and attacked a guard with a homemade knife.

A second guard went to aid the first guard and was also attacked by Wainwright. Both were stabbed repeatedly.

Guards from another side of the complex, however, saw what was going on and rushed to help their coworkers. Wainwright was subdued with pepper spray.

According to Dina Tyler, spokesman for the prison, Wainwright's "shank" was made from a piece of wire with the handle wrapped in some sort of plastic, such as saran wrap.

The two injured guards were Charles Pennington and Gary Keith. Tyler said, Friday, both were stable and improving. They suffered multiple wounds to their upper and lower body. She said most of the wounds were superficial.

Because of this attack, prison director Larry Norris ordered an internal investigation to determine how Wainwright managed to free himself and attack the guards, as well as trying to find out where he got the wire for the weapon and how he hid it while in the exercise yard.

This is the second attack on prison guards by inmates in six months. On Nov. 29, 1995, Sgt. Scott Grimes, 41, of Pine Bluff, was attacked and killed by Alvin B. Jackson, 25, of Little Rock. Jackson managed to escape from his cell and ran down a hallway where he stabbed Grimes.

Tyler said the wire Wainwright used was not concertina wire, the razor wire lining the top of prison fences, but a cylindrical wire which had been sharpened to a point.

Following the attack, Wainwright was taken to the prison infirmary and treated for the pepper spray. He was then placed in an isolation cell.

According to Tyler, the internal investigation will also help determine whether or not proper procedure and policy was followed in handling the prisoner.

"Because of recent problems," she said, "we're looking to make it safer for the staff and inmates. We don't want anyone to get hurt, but sometimes they do.

"We worry about it. I feel for the guards and their families."

Incidents such as this one, she said, are the reason the department of corrections must be sticklers for policy and procedure. "We're dealing with people who commit crimes. At Tucker Max, we're dealing with people who are dangerous. That's why we have policies on how they are moved, searched and dealt with."

State Sen. Mike Ross called the attack a tragedy.

"My heart goes out to the guards and their families," he said.

"This also points to the fact we need better security in our prison system. We've had a lot of problems in the system in recent months. It is my hope the governor and department of correction will soon begin to identify ways to make the prison better."

Ross said this attack also is the result of the fact Arkansas' prisons are overcrowded. "People are demanding longer sentences, and getting longer sentences," he said. "As a result, we have more people incarcerated than ever."

With Wainwright, he said he is frustrated federal law allows a death row inmate to have so many appeals and for so much time to lapse between the time murderers are convicted and when the sentences are finally carried out.

"While on death row, we need tighter control to keep prisoners from harming people like he did these guards.

"In the last session we passed legislation giving a mandatory death sentence to any prisoner committing murder while incarcerated," Ross continued. "While I believe this to be a deterrent to those with lengthy sentences, it won't affect anyone on death row."

Wainwright, originally of Kansas City, Mo., is still appealing his death sentence. However, in April, a three- judge panel of the Eighth United States Circuit Court of Appeals at St. Louis, upheld the death penalty for Wainwright, who has based his appeals on the contention his attorneys failed to give him adequate representation during the trial.