Prisoner suit blames burns on overcrowding

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By Associated Press

Published: 04/19/2004

A former Northampton County (Pa.) Prison inmate has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that he suffered third-degree burns when he and other prisoners were forced by overcrowding to live in a hallway with exposed heating pipes.
Saul Ortiz Jr., of Albion, said in the suit that the skin on his arm "melted like bubble gum" when he came into contact with a steam pipe shortly before Christmas in 2002.
The suit said several other prisoners had also been burned by the pipes in a makeshift dormitory, nicknamed "The Horn," inside a corridor that had been designed for use as a fire escape.
State inspectors had repeatedly warned the prison that the area was not suitable as a living quarters and that its use violated safety standards, the suit said.
"For a long time, though, nothing was done about it," said Ortiz's attorney, Jordan Yeager.
The suit, filed in Philadelphia last Monday, seeks damages of at least $150,000. The county settled a similar suit filed by a different inmate last year.
Northampton County Prison Warden Todd Buskirk said overcrowding has been a chronic problem at the jail, one of the state's oldest. Built to house about 600 inmates, the Easton jail was crammed with close to 800 in 2002.
The problem has been alleviated somewhat over the past year by a campaign by judges to sentence defendants to probation or house arrest, rather than jail, Buskirk said. The average daily population is now about 600 inmates, he said.
The prison also recently broke ground on the first phase of a planned $22.8 million expansion project that is to add an additional 230 beds.
As for "The Horn," Buskirk said it had been used on and off for close to a decade when conditions were more crowded than usual. With the population down, the hallway is now empty of bunks.
Buskirk acknowledged that state inspectors had called attention to potential problems with using the corridor as a living space, but denied the lawsuit's allegation that officials knowingly put prisoners in an unsafe area.
When the prison's population was near its peak, officials also shifted inmates to jails in other counties and housed them in work release centers, even though they weren't qualified for the programs.
In February 2003, a judge released dozens of inmates who had been jailed for failing to pay child support in an attempt to release overcrowding.

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