ANAMOSA, Iowa - An inmate pleading not guilty in the murder of two Iowa prison workers has a history of disciplinary problems.
The Des Moines Register reports Michael Dutcher has been disciplined 19 times for breaking prison policy since 2015, when he began a 50-year prison term for robbery convictions in the Sioux City area.
His most serious infractions involve assaulting a prison worker, fighting and making threatening statements.
Dutcher and Thomas Woodard are charged with killing a nurse and a correctional officer during an attempted prison escape at the Anamosa State prison. Dutcher's arraignment is set for Monday morning.
The two are also accused of beating and injuring another inmate, McKinley Roby, and kidnapping and briefly holding a dental assistant.
Roby and the dental assistant were trying to come to the aid of the two prison workers who were killed.
The Register reports Dutcher repeatedly had been sentenced to juvenile detention, jail and prison since the age of 11.
Litigation consultant Martin Horn told the Register that inmates with serious behavioral problems should not have work assignments giving them freedom of movement inside a prison.
Dutcher and Woodard were on a work detail which gave them access to tools. They're accused of using hammers to beat the prison officer and nurse to death.
(Image from KCRG-TV)