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StumbleState to pay ACLU $325,000 over prison medical care
Tuesday, July 13, 2010 | 11:51 a.m.
CARSON CITY – The state Board of Examiners has agreed to pay $325,000 to attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union, which had sued on grounds the medical care at the prison in Ely was below standard.
State Budget Director Andrew Clinger told the board Tuesday the medical care has been brought up to national standards.
Deputy Attorney General Will Geddes said that under the agreement with the ACLU, there will be a two-year monitoring of medical conditions. The suit by the ACLU will be dismissed with prejudice.
Geddes said the $325,000 is about half of what the ACLU sought to reimburse it for the work performed by lawyers.
In bringing the legal action, the ACLU said it received an extraordinarily large number of complaints about inadequate medical treatment.
The suit was filed on behalf of all prisoners at Ely, including more than 60 of them on death row.
One was David Riker, convicted of killing Kevin Marble, who was stabbed to death multiple times in a residential area in Las Vegas. Riker pleaded guilty and a three-judge court sentenced him to death.
In the 2008 suit, Riker complained he suffered from ailments that caused debilitating chronic pain. He alleged he was told that treating chronic pain is against the policy of the prison, he said.
The board also agreed to a $130,000 out-of-court settlement to Lorraine M. Wilkin, who claims she was the victim of sexual harassment while working at the prison in Ely. She claimed she was fired as a retaliatory act by the prison.
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I've been loosing sleep over the way our inmates are treated as well. Where's my check?
So the inmates that were receiving the inadequate treatment receives how much of the settlement ?
ACLU stands for : All Criminals Love Us .
The ACLU suxs, OMG sue and win? Remember these are the same people that broke the law, some country's if your family doe not feed you, you go hungry! Do the crime, Do the time. Sometimes it seems like life is better in jail, look at all your bens you get. Just makes me sick
Lets get this right this Riker guy is part of the suit because he suffers from chronic pain? This is a guy that stabbed another person to death. GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!!! Why is he still alive anyway. This country has some deep issues.
"State Budget Director Andrew Clinger told the board Tuesday the medical care has been brought up to national standards."
So, does that mean the state will apply for accreditation by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care? That's the only way to stop such suits in the future. However, I doubt Nevada can meet these standards.
So Gibbons is looking to cut teachers from classrooms and make State employees take pay cuts yeet he can't seem to manage State business so we don't keep getting sued???
Now if we could get medical care provided in Vegas up to "national standards".
Strike another one for the american civil terriorists union! Below average care for an inmate, the only thing the people sould have the right to is the right to STFU. Its sickening to think that someone deprives a person of their right to life, then the murderer thinks they have the right to everything. Line them all up against the wall and start pulling the trigger as fast as they can.
The ACLU defends those that we would least like to defend because that is where the government starts down the road of doing the same thing to us. I find it hard to believe that someone could call themselves an American and also be against the ACLU. One other thing to keep in mind... in Nevada, just because you are in prison, it doesn't necessarily mean you've committed a crime. This could be any of us.
MysterMr is correct.
And prisoners are people, just like you and me... maybe we didn't happen to get caught?
There are many innocent individuals in prison. Read the Time article about the Innocence Project and pray that you don't get entangled into the justice (is it really justice) system, especially in NV.
Wake up to reality. Any one of us, or our sons or daughters, could be at Ely suffering from the Draconian (that means harsh for those of you who don't know) nature of Nevada justice.
Go, ACLU! (ACLU should never have settled...)
Lorraine is a hero. Period.
The State and the jury sentenced them to prison or death. They did not sentence them to torture. Are you appalled at the treatment of criminals in Muslim countries and under Sharia law (amputation, stoning, etc.)? If so, shouldn't you also be appalled that we would deny ANYONE pain medication? I thought we were civilized, but some of the comments above would indicate a streak of barbarism.