Inmate grievances followed slain guard

An inmate was preparing music for a Christian service in the prison chapel. Problem was, a small cabinet there was marked “Wicca” and displayed a pentagram — a symbol of that pagan religion — on its door.

Corrections officer Jayme Biendl agreed to cover the cabinet with a blanket and turn it toward a wall, but the 2008 incident nevertheless earned her a grievance from the prisoner, Anthony Snow, who said she should be “re-educated in the sensitivity of the area she oversees.” The presence of a Wiccan symbol, even one covered by a blanket, could offend both Christians and Wiccans, he said.

The grievance was one of about 15 filed against Biendl in the years before she was strangled to death in January at the chapel of the state reformatory in Monroe, according to documents released to the Associated Press under a public disclosure request. The grievances were universally determined to be unfounded.

“Any place you work in a prison is an incredibly stressful, dangerous work environment, whether you work in the chapel or the kitchen or walking the tiers,” said Paul Zilly, spokesman for Teamsters Local 117, which represents corrections officers.

Biendl, 34, had been a corrections officer since 2002, and she was widely considered to be good at her job — she had even been named the prison’s officer of the year in 2008. She was working alone the evening of Jan. 29, when she was strangled during a struggle in the chapel. Inmate Byron Scherf, 52, who never filed a grievance against her, has been charged with aggravated murder in the case.

Scherf, serving a life sentence for rape, has pleaded not guilty in Snohomish County Superior Court and could face the death penalty if convicted.

Biendl had complained to superiors about the practice of working shifts alone, but single-officer posts are common in prison systems. Prison officials said just one guard had worked in the chapel for the past 15 years, with few problems.