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| Jacob Harvey |
An Arizona prison teacher who was left alone in a classroom and raped by a convicted sex offender will receive a $3m settlement from the state to settle a lawsuit.
Jacob Harvey was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 after pleading guilty to the January 2014 rape at the Eyman state prison in Florence.
Under the agreement, seen by the Associated Press news agency, reveals Arizona did not admit liability in the case, but agreed to the payment.
Mia Garcia, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Mark Brnovich, said he had made settling the lawsuit a priority after it was filed by the prison teacher nine months after the attack.
Scott Zwillinger, a lawyer for the victim, said: "Both my client and I are grateful to the attorney general because his administration was interested in doing the right thing here.
"And that allowed us to reach a settlement that's fair for my client and really for the state of Arizona as well."
The lawsuit accused correction officials of failing to protect the female victim.
The attack revealed serious shortcomings in security provision for non-correction officers who work in Arizona's prisons.
After the assault, cameras were installed in prison classrooms, patrols were increased and pepper spray was issued to civilian workers.
When Harvey was sentenced, a lengthy statement from the victim was read out in court in which she described the "unwanted psychological reactions, unwanted memories and psychological distress" she had suffered.
The statement read: "At one point after the rape I wished inmate Harvey had just killed me because death seemed like a relief compared to the hell I was living.
"While I may have wanted to die shortly after the rape, I now have a greater purpose and will to live."
Harvey was in the first year of a 30-year sentence for raping a woman in suburban Phoenix during a home invasion when he carried out the prison attack.
He repeatedly stabbed the teacher with a pen before raping her, according to reports.
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