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| State to comply with judge's order on prison |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 11/10/2003 |
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The Wyoming Corrections Department will comply with a federal judge's order to provide information about inmate assaults at the Wyoming State Penitentiary, Attorney General Pat Crank said last Tuesday. Yet Crank said an American Civil Liberties Union attorney mischaracterized U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer's order by saying last Monday that Brimmer held current and former Corrections Department officials in contempt for not providing the information. ACLU Attorney Stephen Pevar, of Hartford, Conn., said last Tuesday he is satisfied with Brimmer's order regardless of what it is called. He said he is waiting for corrections officials to get back with him on questions he has about the handling of inmates who were assaulted within the past few months - assaults that were not specifically at issue in Brimmer's order. Brimmer's order last Wednesday stems from the settlement of a lawsuit filed by Brad Skinner, an inmate who was beaten by other inmates in 1999. The state agreed in May to pay Skinner an undisclosed sum. Related to the lawsuit - which named as defendants former Corrections Director Judy Uphoff and three other current and past prison officials - was a separate class action claim calling for new policies to help ensure that inmates are protected from assault. The state Attorney General's Office and ACLU spent much of this year hammering out a remedial plan that was adopted by the court Oct. 7. A sticking point in the negotiations has been the release of information on assaults at the Rawlins prison between November and March. Attorneys for the Corrections Department had contended that only information related to Skinner's individual claim is relevant and that the department has provided all relevant information. The order said: ''Plaintiff's Motion to Hold Defendants in Contempt of Court and Plaintiff's Motion to Renew Contempt Motion are GRANTED in the following manner: Defendants are unequivocally ORDERED to answer, within 20 days of the date of this Order, all outstanding discovery regarding recent inmate-on-inmate assaults and retaliation against inmate Craig Blumhagen.'' Pevar said several assaults have occurred in the prison since March that have been of concern to him. He said he is concerned because Skinner - as well as Ellis Kennedy, an inmate who was murdered by three other inmates in 2000 - both told officers they were in danger but were not protected. |
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