(Radio Iowa) – Congresswoman Cindy Axne and Democrats in the Iowa legislature are calling for a federal investigation of the murders of two employees at the state prison in Anamosa. A correctional officer and a registered nurse were beaten to death by two prisoners during a failed escape attempt March 23rd. Senate Democratic Leader Zach Wahls and other Democratic lawmakers toured the facility and met with the prison’s acting warden, Friday. “Over and over and over we were shown areas of the prison where you had a huge potential number of inmates just vastly outnumbering the number of staff who were there in any individual area,” Wahls said.

Wahls says it’s critical for the legislature to provide enough money to hire more staff and upgrade security cameras and the radio communications system within the prison. Representative Eric Gjerde of Cedar Rapids, an assistant House Democratic Leader, says it’s time for real change in the prison system.”What I heard today from the workers and the staff and what I saw is a problem,” Gjerde said. “…It’s time that the State of Iowa is accountable to the folks that work at this facility and right now, we’re not.”

Another Democratic legislator said one cell block with 300 inmates was staffed by two prison guards today. The top Republican in the Iowa House has accused Democrats of politicizing the situation in Anamosa, where two employees were beaten to death with hammers. Two inmates have been charged with their murders. House Speaker Pat Grassley says there’s already an internal investigation underway to examine issues that may have led to the attack and Republican Governor Kim Reynolds has said an external investigation will be done.

On Saturday, the Iowa Department of Corrections said a female officer was handing out medications to inmates around 7:22 a.m. Saturday, when an inmate put her in a choke-hold and assaulted her. Department spokesman Cord Overton said additional staff in the area responded and helped take control of the attacking inmate. The officer suffered bruising but was not seriously injured.