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| Ex-inmate gets $7.65M judgment |
| By White Plains Journal News |
| Published: 05/17/2004 |
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A jury has awarded a former Sing Sing prison inmate a $7.65 million judgment against high-ranking correction officials, saying they did not heed his pleas for protection after he cooperated with prosecutors against a gang leader. The ruling was handed down by a federal jury in Manhattan that found the state Department of Correctional Services "conspired to violate" the inmate's constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment by not segregating him from gang members. The inmate was slashed by another prisoner and nearly bled to death at Sing Sing in 1998, according to his lawyer. The jury ordered state Correction Commissioner Glenn Goord to pay $5 million in punitive damages and Sing Sing security chief William Connolly to pay $2.5 million. It ordered another $150,000 in compensatory damages. Although the court found the two men individually responsible, the state would pay if the verdict stands. The state has vowed to appeal. The verdict is believed to be the largest judgment against high-ranking correction officials, according to the inmate's lawyer, Paul Kerson. He asked that the prisoner's name not be used because his life is still in danger. The inmate was convicted of attempted murder in 1998 and sentenced to 20 years to life. The sentencing judge agreed to warn state prison officials that the man's life might be in danger because earlier he had given prosecutors information about a gang-related murder plot. But officials were indifferent, Kerson said. The judge who presided over the lawsuit, Lawrence McKenna, had said Commissioner Goord and other officials could be held personally responsible for a department policy to randomly assign prisoners to cellblocks, according to the New York Law Journal. State officials said they would contest that ruling. The attorney general's office, representing prison officials, will ask McKenna to set aside the jury's verdict, officials said. That decision isn't expected for at least a month. If McKenna declines, the state would appeal. |
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