My brother was jumped in the laundry room of a prison by 4 guys. He was beaten on his back, neck, and head. His eye was punched so hard that his retina is detached from his eye. He will need to have surgery and we feel the prison should pay for it. Its going to cost around $7000. Oh, I forgot to say "THERE WERE NO GUARDS AROUND". How can anyone suppose to be safe in prison, if the guards aren't even paying attention to the inmates?
2007-01-08 14:44:32 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
excuse me "correctional officers" The CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS did watch the tape and felt that my brother should be put in the "hole". My brother did not fight back when he was attacked. He also has put in numerous requests to transfer to a minimum security prison. He is at the moment in a medium security. He shouldn't be in this type of prison. He did something wrong obviously BUT what he did does not qualify him to be in a medium. (stole tools from peoples OPEN garages and sheds) Also live in Wisconsin, so I need a referrel or a direction to take in Wisconsin
2007-01-08 15:11:41 · update #1
Wow, that's terrible, ugly unfair, unjust and more common than we like to think.
Prisons are a huge household of the worst society has to offer.
No offense to those with loved ones there, but ask anyone who's done time...it's like hell on earth.
As for the Lawyer who will take the case, you're going to have to start calling around. I once needed a Business Attorney, and found that 99% of the lawyers I called listened to my case over the phone, pointed me in the right direction, even did some lightweight interpretation of the law and gave their opinion on whether or not we had a case, (free advice).
My heart goes out to your brother, things like that shouldn't happen.
Another concern is that your brother needs to get transferred to another prison or isolated for his own safety cause the minute word gets out that he's snitched on them he's a marked man.Good luck.
2007-01-08 14:55:24 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
First, they are not 'guards' they are correction officers. That is, they interact with the inmates, not just keep people in or out.
Second, in a prision, depending on the size, the ration of inmates to correction officers is about 40 to 1. The feasibility of a correction officer being everywhere to see everything is low. It is not that they don't try, but much like the outside world, if you got jumped on the street, and a cop wasn't nearby, it's not the cops fault.
I understand the frustration, and I understand the concern for your brother, but unless the correction officer(s) assigned to the laundry room intentionally left your brother to be attacked, or it is found that there was some negligence on their part, it's simply a very unfortunate circumstance, and not a product of them or the prision not doing their job.
The most effective way to prevent this is to decrease prision size, or increase budgets to allow for more correction officers.
Most Minimum and Medium security prisions work on a penal system though I doubt that he was put in medium security for stealing tools (it is more likely there is more to this story than what is being shared), if it did happen, requests to be transferred wouldn't be denied unless his behavior in the prision dictated it. Many min. security inmates get transferred to medium due to attitude or infractions within jail. Does this mean your brother should've been attacked? By no means - no one should suffer what your brother did. However, if he was kept there, there is most likely a reason than what you are sharing with us, or what he is sharing with you.
By all means, contact a lawyer, civil rights one to be more specific, and have the video watched. If there is negligence, etc, they should have to pay, but again, if it's just a product of unfortunate circumstance, they shouldn't have to, especially if the behavior was caused by previous actions of your brother.
2007-01-08 23:00:41 · answer #2 · answered by HG 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Good luck. Doubtful you will find an attorney easily, if at all. You could start looking at the Civil Gideon issue in your state (search Wisconsin "Civil Gideon").
You could contact legal aid and such, but its doubtful they have the resources for this type of case.
Attorneys won't take it because its not lucrative financially, and because they generally only "care" about civil rights on their blogs and hypothetically only if they can get a death sentence case that will give them a tax writeoff and perhaps some publicity for their practice.
That's reality.
2007-01-09 02:21:51 · answer #3 · answered by bai.mingsheng 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you should have mentioned what state you are or your brother is
in this happens to often and some times the guards deliberately leave an area until the dirty work is done if they don't like some one or they are trying to force hm to rat on others etc,
you may be able to contact the A.C.L,U, and see if they will help you , most lawyers don't want to get involved in a case such as this as it can drag on and usually does for several years,
I hope you luck,
2007-01-08 23:10:26 · answer #4 · answered by james w 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
If there is a law school in the city where you live, or close to where you live, perhaps you can get someone to take the case for free.
Call the nearest law school(s) and ask if they do pro bono
(free) cases.
A senior law student may be assigned to assist you.
2007-01-08 22:50:30 · answer #5 · answered by newyorkgal71 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋