Paralyzed former inmate sues state

Kim Smith

Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2000 | 10:06 a.m.

A former inmate has filed a federal lawsuit against the Nevada Department of Prisons claiming he was paralyzed in a prison beating, then released without consideration for his needs.

According to George Butler's lawsuit, he was rendered comatose and a quadriplegic in an October 1997 prison fight. When he regained consciousness in December 1999, he was "dumped" at the Las Vegas mobile home park where he lived before being convicted of burglary, the lawsuit says.

"Plaintiff was in severe need of medical care at the time, and no provision was made for any such care," the lawsuit states.

Named in the lawsuit are Bob Bayer, director of the Department of Prisons; Howard Skolnik, assistant department director; Sherman Hatcher, warden of the Southern Nevada Desert Correctional Center in Indian Springs; the state and the Department of Prisons.

Skolnik, who also acts as Department of Prisons spokesman, declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying he had not yet seen it.

Butler, who also suffered brain injuries during the beating, is unable to speak and communicates by grunting.

Just one day before Butler was beaten, 30 inmates got into a fight so severe that two were hospitalized at University Medical Center, one with a broken leg, the lawsuit states.

At times, the staff-to-inmate ratio is 1-to-30 partly because the department doesn't pay competitive wages, the lawsuit states. At the time of Butler's beating, officers at the Las Vegas Detention Center were being paid 33 percent more than those at the Indian Springs facility.

Those who do work at the facility are ill-equipped, ill-trained and conduct too few searches, the lawsuit states.

Kim Smith covers federal agencies for the Sun. She can be reached at (702) 259-2321 or by e-mail at kimberly@lasvegassun.com