TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Two employees at a Kansas prison were fired, and six others were disciplined, after accusations that they mocked and failed to help an injured female inmate identified as 67-year-old Elizabeth Wince. She is listed as Kansas sex offender for a March 2020 rape conviction in Ford County, according to the Kansas Offender Registry.
Other inmates at the Topeka Correctional Facility said Wince spent two hours crawling back to her cell after hurting herself in September, KCUR-FM reported. Inmates told KCUR that prison staff called the injured woman “fat” and “lazy,” and didn't provide assistance because they thought she was faking.
Hours later, Wince was hospitalized with an injured foot, and didn't return to the prison for several weeks, the Kansas news service reported.
Kansas Department of Corrections spokesperson David Thompson said in a statement that officials take allegations of mistreatment seriously.
“We are confident that these actions represent a temporary lapse in judgment for the handful of staff that were involved and do not reflect a systemic issue at TCF or the larger correctional system,” Thompson said.
Prison staff will get training so that “employees feel empowered to challenge and report any order — including from a superior officer — that they feel is illegal, immoral, or unethical,” Thompson said.