File image of razor wire lining a fence at a state prison in Arizona.
The Inspector General for the Arizona Department of Corrections is conducting a criminal investigation into the altercation that left three inmates dead at the Arizona State Prison Complex in Tucson on Wilmot Road on April 4.
A preliminary report says that Ricky Wassenaar is the sole suspect and had "direct intent" to harm the three inmates:
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Inmate Saul Alvarez, ADCRR #138773, was admitted to ADCRR custody in 2004 after being sentenced out of Maricopa County for First Degree Murder.
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Inmate Thorne Harnage, ADCRR #372231, was admitted to ADCRR custody in 2024 after being sentenced out of Pima County for Sexual Conduct with a Minor.
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Inmate Donald Lashley, ADCRR #364250, was admitted to ADCRR custody in 2023 after being sentenced out of Pima County for Sexual Conduct with a Minor and Molestation of a Child.
Wassenaar is serving 16 life sentences for his part in one of the longest prison hostage situations in US history. In 2004, he held a female corrections officer hostage for two weeks at the Lewis prison complex in Buckeye.
According to the latest available data from the Department of Correction, as of February, 96 inmates died in Arizona prisons in fiscal year 2025, which runs through June.
Corrections officials said there is no ongoing threat at the prison, and the full investigation is ongoing alongside the county medical examiner.
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