An Alabama prisoner, injured in his eye while sorting glass for recycling, received a $90,000 settlement Thursday from the Department of Corrections, a rare windfall for an inmate.
Brian Dodd, a 31-year-old Walker County man serving time for theft, had requested a pair of protective goggles for his job at the Elmore Correctional Facility's recycling plant. A prison officer denied his request and ordered him back to work or face discipline, according to Dodd's 2003 federal lawsuit.
Prison officials say Dodd was lying about his injury.
A misplaced medical record surfaced, showing the warden did not have accurate information.
Since the March 2002 accident, Dodd has suffered blurred vision, a blind spot and persistent irritation in his right eye. "It's as if you woke up every single day for two years with a piece of sand in your eye," said Ty Alper, an attorney with the Southern Center for Human Rights, an Atlanta nonprofit that filed the suit on Dodd's behalf.
The settlement also requires the state to provide Dodd with treatment by an ophthalmologist.
A DOC attorney said the state does not believe Dodd was injured at the prison, nor that he ever requested goggles. "We believe our people did the right thing," said Jane Brannan, assistant counsel to Alabama Prison Commissioner Donal Campbell.
Brannan said she could not discuss the reasons DOC agreed to the settlement. It's the only cash payment to a prisoner in a lawsuit she could remember in her three years there.