Jeanine L' Ecuyer Speaks to OU Journalism Students

Jeanine L' Ecuyer speaks to students about the seriousness
of the Arizona prison hostage in 2004.
PHOTO BY: Nathan

Jeanine L’ Ecuyer spoke to OU students about the Hostage Situation that took place in 2004 at the Arizona Department of Corrections. L’Ecuyer spoke in the Hall of Fame room in Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication on April 18, 2011.

In 2004 in Buckeye, Arizona at the Arizona Department of Corrections two inmates were trying to escape the prison when they ran into some difficulties. In the act of escaping they stabbed a prison worker and took two-prison guards hostage in the prison tower. Unfortunately for police the tower was designed to be impossible to shoot through. Trained negotiators through the tower phone contacted the inmates, but the only thing that was negotiated was food, alcohol and minimal information. 

Ricky Wassenaur, the more violent of the two inmates, only wanted to talk to Ilona, a news reporter for channel 10 in Arizona. Ilona was open to the idea and the negotiators started giving her tips to lure them out. Unfortunately Wassenaur decided against talking with her and demanded again more food and alcohol. Police were worried about the condition of the two hostages and knew through limited information that Lois, the female prison guard, had been raped multiple times and faked a bladder infection and Jason, the male victim had received a head injury, but they didn’t realize until the hostages were released how serious both of their conditions were. Not a lot of official information was released. While this situation was being investigated the other prisoners were evacuated and moved to a secluded area. This hostage situation lasted two grueling weeks.

L' Ecuyer discussing her position in the prison hostage.
PHOTO BY: Nathan

L’Ecuyer mentions her position in this case, as “handling media relations and that was enough”. She worked under the current Arizona state governor at the time, Janet Napolitano. Her job was important not only because it kept the whole state from worrying about their safety, but also kept the media out of the homes of the families involved.  

 L’Ecuyer said, “The difference from then and now is all the different media outlets. Twitter and Facebook were not a big deal in 2004; therefore the government was able to keep things under wraps. Although leakage was happening it was not happening as fast as it would now”. Although this was a serious situation the prisoners were given more life sentences and moved to separate prisons closer to their families. As for the two hostages, the female is still fighting through the emotional and physical hurt as well as learning to cope with being a rape victim. She is no longer working at the Arizona prison and has chosen to not speak to the media. The male victim spent several days in the hospital and suffered severe head injuries. L’Ecuyer mentioned that she doesn’t know for sure, but the last she heard about the male hostage he was physically handicap due to the sever beating.