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| Burned inmate in serious condition |
| By Bainbridge Post Searchlight |
| Published: 03/28/2005 |
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An inmate who was badly burned March 18 by an explosion at the county landfill is in serious condition at a Florida hospital, Deputy Warden Elijah McCoy said last Tuesday. The victim was identified by a Sheriff's Department incident report as James Pritchett, an inmate at the Decatur County Correctional Institute. McCoy said Pritchett had been transferred from Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare in Tallahassee to the burn center at Shands Healthcare in Gainesville, Fla. He said the man was being treated for serious burns on 30 percent of his body, including his arms, groin and back. According to a Sheriff's Department incident report, witnesses to the explosion stated Pritchett had lined up four 55-gallon drumsinside a building used as a work shack. As the inmate began to remove the top of the first drum using a cutting torch, the drum exploded and he was set on fire. The man ran outside the building and rolled on the ground in order to put out the flames, witnesses said. Emergency Medical Service personnel treated the man at the scene. He was later transported by LifeFlight helicopter to Tallahassee. Drums are routinely received by the landfill, DCCI officials said, some of which have the tops cut off and are provided to the public free of charge for use as burn barrels, McCoy said. Giving them away helps reduce the amount of materials that go in the landfill, he added. However, McCoy said he believes that Warden Jim Miller will not allow inmates to cut the tops off of any more drums. He said the landfill has a policy requiring drums to be emptied and rinsed out by the company providing them. Companies are also required to cut a hole in the drum's bottom, he said, but those procedures were not followed in this case. |
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