WESTERN SKIES - August 25, 2005

*** PRISON LAWSUIT ***

ERIC WHITNEY: Last week, eighty six current and former inmates of the Crowley County Correctional facility in Olney Springs, filed a lawsuit in state court against the Corrections Corporation of America, which operates the prison. They allege that CCA's negligence and mistreatment of prisoners sparked a riot involving hundreds of prisoners in July of 2004. They also accuse CCA of using excessive and indiscriminate force during and after the riot. Maeve Conran files this report.

MAEVE CONRAN: Adele Kimmel is with Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, who this week joined lead attorney William Trine in the lawsuit on behalf of the inmates.

ADELE KIMMEL: Corrections Corporation of America could see that a riot was coming and it was repeatedly warned that a riot was coming, but instead of taking the steps necessary to prevent a riot, this profit-driven prison, added fuel to the fire.

CONRAN: The lawsuit accuses the prison operators of using unlawful and excessive force against inmates who were not involved in the riot. The lawyers say that none of their clients were involved in initiating the violence that left two inmates seriously injured. Vance Adams, a former inmate and plaintiff, described how all the inmates were handled with excessive force following the riot.

VANCE ADAMS: They told me to put my head face down and I told them I couldn't because there was water on the floor, so one of them grabbed my head and turned it and shoved it down in the water, and at the same time another guard grabbed my arms and pinned his knee to my back to where I couldn't move.

CONRAN: Lead attorney William Trine says that this lawsuit represents the only means for the inmates to address their grievances. He also says that a second lawsuit will be filed in the fall on behalf of other inmates who are coming forward with complaints against CCA. Steve Owens is a spokesman for CCA, which is withholding comment for now.

STEVE OWENS: The company will aggressively defend the complaint, but beyond that we believe that the most appropriate venue to respond to the complaint is through proper court filings, rather than by way of public comment.

For Western Skies, I'm Maeve Conran.

WHITNEY: The state Department of Corrections has not respond to our requests for interviews about private prisons.