Ariz., Maine swap prisoners Lewiston man in prison hostage siege demands transfer near home

BANGOR – One of the two Arizona prison inmates involved in the nation’s longest prison hostage siege, which ended Sunday, is on his way to Maine, the governor’s office announced Tuesday.

“Maine’s willingness to accept this inmate, a former Maine resident with family still living in the state, was a key component to securing the safe release of the hostages,” according to a press release issued by Gov. John Baldacci’s office.

Steven Coy, 39, a convicted rapist and armed robber originally from Lewiston, agreed to surrender and release his 33-year-old female hostage if he could be transferred to a Maine prison so that he could be closer to his father and sister who live in the state.

“It was the right thing to do,” Baldacci stated. “[Arizona] Governor Janet Napolitano called me several times. Maine Department of Corrections Commissioner Marty Magnusson worked with the Arizona Department of Corrections and the hostage negotiators during the ordeal. The state made a necessary decision to help Governor Napolitano end a hostage situation that was putting Arizona corrections employees’ lives at risk.”

Coy will be housed in a maximum-security unit where procedures are in place to assure that Maine correctional officers and staff are not placed at risk, said the governor.

Coy and fellow inmate Ricky Kurt Wassenaar attempted an escape on Jan. 18 from the Arizona State Prison Complex-Lewis in Buckeye. According to Arizona newspapers, the two inmates obtained shanks, subdued several corrections officers, took a uniform, shaved, bluffed their way into the guard tower and took two hostages. They armed themselves with an assault rifle, shotgun, tear gas and other weapons.

The two inmates kept authorities at bay for 15 days, releasing a 21-year-old male guard on Jan. 24, but keeping a 33-year-old female guard who allegedly was sexually assaulted during the ordeal.

On Sunday, the men agreed to surrender after being promised transfers to prison facilities in other states nearer their families. That meant Maine for Coy and Wisconsin for Wassenaar.

Both men have criminal records dating back to their teens and, according to Arizona media reports, posed continuing disciplinary problems to corrections officers, including other escape attempts.

On Tuesday evening, Coy’s father, William Coy of Poland, Maine, said he had not had any contact with his son since he began getting in big trouble in Arizona.

He said his son grew up in Lewiston but did not graduate from high school and moved to Arizona on his own when he was still a teenager.

William Coy said he had not spoken to authorities in Arizona but had learned that his son was being transferred to Maine. He said he was somewhat surprised that his son was interested in coming to Maine to be closer to family.

“He probably thought it was in his best interest to get out of Arizona,” William Coy said.

Coy was first arrested in Arizona at age 18 on forgery charges. The next year he was charged with sexual assault, theft and possession of stolen property. He served five years in prison after being convicted of burglary. A month after he was released, he was arrested for resisting arrest, and possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, according to Arizona media reports.

The term he is serving stems from charges that he used his pregnant wife as a getaway driver when he robbed and sexually assaulted a Tucson, Ariz., shopkeeper in 1993. Records indicate Coy robbed the woman and then raped her in a back room.

One probation officer wrote in a presentence report that Coy was society’s “worst nightmare.” A judge said, “Quite simply, Coy is dangerous.”

Denise Lord, associate commissioner for Maine DOC, said Tuesday that Coy would be in a maximum-security unit at the Maine State Prison in Warren and that security was in place to ensure the safety of the prisoners and guards.

In exchange for taking Coy, Arizona has agreed to take custody of one of Maine’s highest-security-risk prisoners, Lord said, although it has not been determined which one would head west.

Coy still has some court processes to go through before he is shipped to Maine. Lord said she had no way of knowing right now how long that process would take.