January 18, 2004 two male prisoners escaped to a prison tower with two hostages. While making their escape, the prisoners injured two other prison guards that received medical treatment.
Jeanine L'Ecuyer had been working as a spokeswoman for Governor Napolitano at the time. Given the circumstances of the event, it is safe to say that she was thrown into the lions den. Luckily, her history as a journalist helped her control the situation.
The government gave the media and viewers very little information about the prisoners and hostages. Names were not even provided until each hostage was released.
The hostages were Lois Fraley, a female prison guard, and another male prison guard. The male, Jason, was released before Lois. However, while being held hostage he was hit in the head with a shovel. When released from the tower Jason was immediately sent to the hospital for treatment. However, due to the severity of the injury, Jason became fully disabled.
Lois, on the other hand was held hostage for the entire 14 days. During the time, Lois was raped several times by both men, only having them stop after lying to them about having a bladder infection. She was also starved and physically injured. In the mean time, the two prisoners were being treated to pizza, cigarettes and anything else that the government and prison officials could trade for information or possible release of Lois Fraley.
While in the tower, the only form of communication or information the prisoners and Lois had was a radio. Lois said the radio was in fact the one that kept her fighting through all the physically, sexual and emotional trauma she was going through. She knew, because of the radio, that people were in fact praying for her and doing what they could to free her from the tower.
After 14 days, Lois was finally released and the prisoners were captured. Lois received medical treatment and counseling. The prisoners were sentenced to more life sentencing and were relocated to prisons closer to their families.
Jeanine L"Ecuyer explained that the media did everything they could to get information out of the government and prison officials. However, they were not budging. There were a few leaks, like the name of the hostages. However, they did not say the names on air after being asked by the government to refrain from giving names on t.v. Because of this, people at home did not know much detailed information about the prisoners and hostages. Today, however, with the popular use of Twitter, Facebook, and other social media outlets, information would spread more rapidly and it would be harder to keep information under wraps after it was leaked and published online.
L'Cuyer made it a major effort to point out the importance of social media networks and the major role they play in news today.
pictures provided by Aubree Pearson
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