PHOENIX – A kitchen worker who was raped by an inmate at the start of a prison hostage standoff in Buckeye, Ariz., last year has tentatively reached a settlement in her suit against the state.

Although the attorney for the 55-year-old woman wouldn’t discuss details of the deal, he said the settlement was fair compensation for a rape victim. Attorney Albert M. Flores also said the amount wasn’t the $5 million his client had sought in her lawsuit.

The inmate accused of raping the woman is currently serving time in Maine.

The settlement stemmed from a mediation hearing Monday and still needs the approval of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. Flores anticipates the approval could come in February.

The woman filed a lawsuit in June, claiming the state had been negligent by allowing a rapist and another violent felon to work with her in the kitchen. Her suit also cited poor training, staff incompetence and lax security at the prison.

She was working for a private vendor at a kitchen in the Arizona State Prison Complex-Lewis when the standoff began Jan. 18, 2004. During the early morning hours that day, inmates Ricky Wassenaar and Steven Coy, armed with makeshift knives, overpowered the only guard on duty in the kitchen. Then, Coy, a convicted rapist, hog-tied, beat and raped the woman.

The inmates eventually imprisoned two guards and took control of an armed tower. The standoff they began didn’t end until 15 days later, when negotiators coaxed them out of the tower.

Since then, the Arizona Department of Corrections has made changes geared toward preventing another standoff. In the prison kitchen where the crisis began – with one inmate taking a serving paddle the size of a boat oar to use as a weapon – spatulas, ladles and knives are tethered, padlocked and inventoried. Coy has pleaded guilty to all charges stemming from the standoff and was sentenced to seven life terms.