MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA, February 19, 2004 – The Alabama Department
of Corrections (DOC) has paid $90,000.00 to an Alabama inmate who was injured when a piece of glass struck his
eye while he was working at a recycling facility at the Elmore
Correctional Facility in Elmore, AL. Brian Dodd, a Gulf War veteran and
skilled welder serving a short sentence for a drug-related offense, had
previously requested protective eye goggles before working in the
facility. Several days after his request was denied, his eye was
severely injured by a piece of flying glass.
Mr. Dodd, represented by the Southern Center for Human Rights
in Atlanta, filed a federal lawsuit in Montgomery in May 2003
against the correctional officer who had denied him the goggles, Howard
Robinson. In November, U.S. District Judge Mark E. Fuller
rejected an
attempt by the DOC to have Mr. Dodd’s lawsuit against him thrown out of
court, and the judge ordered the case set for trial in April.
Attorneys for both sides reached an agreement this month which calls
for the DOC to pay Mr. Dodd $90,000 for the resolution of his claims.
The DOC has also agreed to pay for the evaluation and treatment of Mr.
Dodd’s eye, which remains injured almost two years after the March 2002
accident at the recycling facility. "We believe this is a very fair
settlement," said Mr. Dodd’s attorney, Ty Alper. "Mr. Dodd’s primary
concern is getting his eye treated."
Mr. Alper and attorney Marion Chartoff, also with the Southern Center
for Human Rights, filed a federal class action lawsuit against the
Elmore facility several years ago. At the time, inmates working at the
recycling facility were working without protective gear and were often
stuck with used hypodermic needles and splashed with medical waste. As a
result of that lawsuit, a settlement agreement was reached which
required officers to provide protective gear to inmates working in the
recycling facility.
"The officers at Elmore need to understand that there are serious
consequences - for the inmates and for themselves - when they do not
provide the protective gear that they are supposed to provide," said Mr.
Alper. "Mr. Dodd’s injury was entirely preventable, if he had just been
given a pair of eye goggles. We don’t expect this kind of thing to
happen again."