Constitution

Waste of the Day: Nevada Will Pay Burned Inmates $340,000 For Mistreatment

Penny-wise and pound-foolish: Nevada mistreated eight inmates by sending them to fight a fire without training. Cost: $340,000

Published

1 year ago

December 15, 2023

Adam Andrzejewski

Eight inmates in a Nevada state prison were forced to fight fires without training and proper equipment, and weren’t given medical treatment after suffering burns, they alleged in lawsuits that led to a $340,000 settlement.

Past and present inmates filed several lawsuits against the state over their treatment, the Nevada Independent reported.

Waste of the Day: Nevada Will Pay Burned Inmates $340,000 For Mistreatment — Waste of the Day 12.15.23 by Open the Books

The separate state and federal lawsuits came after eight inmates were cleaning up remnants of a fire near Laughlin, about 90 miles south of Las Vegas, in April 2021.

The fire began burning their feet as they worked, but they were required to continue, and two supervisors “mocked” them, according to the lawsuits. The sole of one inmate’s boot melted off, and a supervisor wrapped the shoe in duct tape and required work to continue, they claimed.

After they finished, the prisoners could “barely walk,” one of the lawsuits stated, and many needed assistance to get off a bus and reached a restroom by crawling, the Independent reported.

They didn’t receive medical treatment until the next day, when doctors sliced off dead skin and tissue without providing any pain medication, they claimed. Several of the firefighting inmates spent the next two weeks in recovery, the Independent reported.

The inmates who participated in the firefighting program weren’t given any in-field training before and were unable to report worn-out equipment or supervisors’ negligence, their suit claimed.

According to the lawsuit, the Department of Corrections inspector general investigated the incident and found the firefighters got second-degree burns on their feet, received insufficient training and were wearing worn-out boots.

The eight plaintiffs will receive amounts ranging from around $24,000 to $48,000, with remaining money to be distributed to the plaintiff’s counsel.

The settlement also established new safety protocols and training programs for participants of the firefighting program, a partnership between the Nevada Division of Forestry and the Nevada Department of Corrections.

The prisoner firefighters receive just $24 daily, which some state officials compared to enslavement and forced labor, the Independent reported. Their service can earn them a sentence reduction of up to 45 days.

Prisoners serving their time are legally and ethically entitled to a safe existence behind bars, and not providing that has costs taxpayers more than it would have to administer the proper care in the first place.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.

This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.

Adam Andrzejewski

CEO at OpenTheBooks.com | Website | + posts

Adam Andrzejewski (say: Angie-eff-ski) was the CEO/founder of OpenTheBooks.com. Before dedicating his life to public service, Adam co-founded HomePages Directories, a $20 million publishing company (1997-2007). His works have been featured on the BBC, Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, C-SPAN, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, FOX News, CNN, National Public Radio (NPR), Forbes, Newsweek, and many other national media.

Today, OpenTheBooks.com is the largest private repository of U.S. public-sector spending. Mission: post "every dime, online, in real time." In 2022, OpenTheBooks.com captured nearly all public expenditures in the country, including nearly all disclosed federal government spending; 50 of 50 state checkbooks; and 25 million public employee salary and pension records from 50,000 public bodies across America.

The group's aggressive transparency and forensic auditing of government spending has led to the assembly of grand juries, indictments, and successful prosecutions; congressional briefings, hearings, and subpoenas; Government Accountability Office (GAO) audits; Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports; federal legislation; and much more.

Our Honorary Chairman - In Memoriam is U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, MD.

Andrzejewski's federal oversight work was included in the President's Budget To Congress FY2021. The budget cited his organization by name, bullet-pointed their findings, and footnoted/hyperlinked to their report.

Posted on YouTube, Andrzejewski's presentation, The Depth of the Swamp, at the Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar 2020 in Naples, Florida received 3.8 million views.

Andrzejewski has spoken at the Columbia School of Journalism, Harvard Law School and the law schools at Georgetown and George Washington regarding big data journalism. As a senior policy contributor at Forbes, Adam had nearly 20 million pageviews on 206 published investigations. In 2022, investigative fact-finding on Dr. Fauci's finances led to his cancellation at Forbes.

In 2022, Andrzejewski did 473 live television and radio interviews across broadcast, major cable platforms, and radio shows. Andrzejewski is the author of The Waste of the Day column at Real Clear Policy. The column is syndicated by Sinclair Broadcast Group, owners of nearly 200 ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX affiliates across USA.

Andrzejewski passed away in his sleep at his home in in Hinsdale, Illinois, on August 18, 2024. He is survived by his wife Kerry and three daughters. He also served as a lector at St. Isaac Jogues Catholic Church and finished the Chicago Marathon eight times (PR 3:58.49 in 2022).

Waste of the Day articles published after August 18, 2024 are considered posthumous publications.