Inmate files suit for third-degree burn

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By The Express-Times

Published: 10/02/2003

A second Northampton County (Penn.) prison inmate has sued the county after he burned his arm on an exposed pipe in a former makeshift housing area in the prison.
The suit, filed Wednesday, is at least the second of its kind filed in county court this year.
Former inmate Vincent Batista Jr. of Bethlehem claims he was forced to stay in the "horn" -- a hallway with exposed, scalding hot steam pipes running along the walls. Batista slipped in a puddle of water leaking from the pipe Dec. 4, 2002, and suffered third-degree burns when his forearm struck the hot pipe, the suit says.
The horn was not designed for inmate housing, but the 100-foot hallway was converted into a housing area with 20 bunk beds because of overcrowding. Inmates are no longer housed there, county officials have said.
A similar lawsuit was filed by Bethlehem resident James Dorsey, who burned his arm on a pipe while he was serving time on a drug charge in 2002. He filed the suit on his own behalf Jan. 27. The status of Dorsey's lawsuit is uncertain.
Attorney Gary Asteak filed the suit on Batista's behalf. Asteak said the prison was negligent for housing prisoners near hot pipes.
Named in Batista's suit are the county, the prison, Corrections Director H. James Smith and Warden Todd Buskirk.
In a letter dating to December 2001, another county inmate reported "at least two cases of people getting seriously burned on the exposed pipes."
Inmate Matthew R. Luty told The Express-Times in his letter that the heating system produced so much heat inmates had to hang blankets from their bunks to act as shields.
Administrators ran air conditioners and exhaust fans during winter months to get rid of the excessive heat, the letter says.
The prison is subject to scores of lawsuits every year from inmates claiming mistreatment by county officials. The vast majority of the lawsuits are dismissed before trial.

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