Moldy Mattress Nets Inmate $295k

The Smoking Gun ^ | September 19, 2008

[Anita1]

Federal jury awards inmate $295,000 over moldy cell mattress. . . Jury: Lousy bedding violated Wisconsin felon's constitutional rights - A Wisconsin man serving time for reckless homicide yesterday was awarded $295,000 by a federal jury that found the inmate's constitutional rights were violated when he was forced to spend two months sleeping on a moldy, waterlogged mattress. Reggie Townsend, 29, scored the six-figure windfall after a U.S. District Court panel decided that he was improperly treated while locked up in late-2004 at the New Lisbon Correctional Institution.

[Anita1]

Following a jail riot, Townsend spent about 60 days in a 12' x 6' segregation unit he shared with another state inmate. During that period, the jury found that Townsend had to sleep on the cell floor atop a thin mattress adjacent to the shower. The mattress, Townsend claimed, soon became "wet, moldy and foul smelling" and was not replaced despite his complaints to jail guards. Though he did not suffer any physical harm from the unsanitary bedding, Townsend was deprived of the "minimal civilized measure of life's necessities," the jury decided after deliberating six hours. While the $295,000 punitive damage award was levied against Jerry Allen, a corrections officer, the State of Wisconsin may end up on the hook for the alleged actions (or inaction) of its employee. Townsend is serving 23 years for his role in a Milwaukee street shootout that left an 11-year-old girl dead. The child was hit by a stray bullet while inside her grandmother's home. (2 pages)

Posted is a copy of the decision on page 2.

[Silly]

Argh!

[Jerry Attrick]

This just pisses me off! The right thing that should be done here is give the girl’s family the money.

[DieHard the Hunter]

That would make him “worth” US$4M per year, roughly. Nice job if you can get it...

[WildcatClan]

I would name the parents of the 11 year old child as his heirs and award him $300k and a bullet in his head.

[DemforBush]

One hopes that the survivors of the slain girl file a wrongful death suit and end up taking that $295,000 right away from this dirtbag.

[FlingWingFlyer]

See? Crime does pay.

[Anita1]

So true! Our society is totally upside down - They call the good, evil; and the evil, they call good!

Now where have I heard that before? Could it be the bible?

[TheWasteLand]

He’s a thug, plus he knows how to game the system. I think we’ve got a future 0bama economics adviser.

[WildcatClan]

If it is true, you can tell much about a society in examining its penal system and prisons; Then it is evident we live in a bat-$h!t crazy society.

[LukeL]

Apparently this jury doesn’t know how often inmates flood their cells on purpose to just get attention and tick off the guards. If there were two people in the cell there should have been bunk beds in the cell.

[Selmore]

they can sue for wrongful death

[Poison Pill]

So, the inmates are no longer running the asylum. Now they are inheriting it!

[yazoo]

“Jury: Lousy bedding violated Wisconsin felon’s constitutional rights”

The jury was right. It’s right there in the bill of rights. “The government shall make no law depriving prisoners the right to sleep on a sealy posturepedic.”

[yazoo]

Wish I had known about this constitutional right when I had to sleep in the rain under a soaking wet poncho liner in Vietnam.

[Old Student]

“Now where have I heard that before? Could it be the bible?”

Nah, couldn't be. Nobody reads that useless old thing now.

/sarcasm, just so no one blasts me...

Unfortunately, it's a lot truer than I like...