Jail explosion......utter incompetence

http://www.pnj.com/story/news/2014/05/07/jail-blast-survivors-speak/8836227/

There was no plan.    

There appears to have been no evacuation plan, and in a prime hurricane zone this is unbelievable, and worse.......this could have been prevented. Read the story of people calling loved ones afraid to go to sleep because of the gas, afraid they would not wake up. I hope the State's Attorney has the courage to prosecute those responsible.......this was not a failure to act in five minutes......this was the failure to act after hours of known danger. Some people should be spending many years in jail for this.

I feel terrible for the guard who was paralyzed. The changes in laws limits his recovery as a plaintiff to $200,000,00 to live the rest of his life without feeling in his lower body. Tort reform simply allows dangerous and incompetent government to continue. Sure it save taxpayers money, but what it did to his family is unforgiveable, and try to support a family with 200k.........fortunately he will be getting workman comp payments, and hopefully the sheriff's office will give him vocational rehab, and he can return to work in some capacity. What a terrible tragedy which reinforces how screwed up our politics have become denying victims fair recoveries.

2seaoat wrote:There appears to have been no evacuation plan, and in a prime hurricane zone this is unbelievable, and worse.......this could have been prevented.  Read the story of people calling loved ones afraid to go to sleep because of the gas, afraid they would not wake up.   I hope the State's Attorney has the courage to prosecute those responsible.......this was not a failure to act in five minutes......this was the failure to act after hours of known danger.  Some people should be spending many years in jail for this.

Guess you are meaning the Escambia BOCC because nobody else is responsible.

2seaoat wrote:I feel terrible for the guard who was paralyzed.  The changes in laws limits his recovery as a plaintiff to $200,000,00 to live the rest of his life without feeling in his lower body.   Tort reform simply allows dangerous and incompetent government to continue.  Sure it save taxpayers money, but what it did to his family is unforgiveable, and try to support a family with 200k.........fortunately he will be getting workman comp payments, and hopefully the sheriff's office will give him vocational rehab, and he can return to work in some capacity.  What a terrible tragedy which reinforces how screwed up our politics have become denying victims fair recoveries.

 
 
Uh, why wouldn't he be allowed to medically retire and draw his salary as well as Social Security disability? Happens to those of us in the military all the time. There's no way he only collects 200k either.

I don't know about the legal situation of the CO, but this was a great and seemingly avoidable tragedy. Very sad.

(5) The state and its agencies and subdivisions shall be liable for tort claims in the same manner and to the same extent as a private individual under like circumstances, but liability shall not include punitive damages or interest for the period before judgment. Neither the state nor its agencies or subdivisions shall be liable to pay a claim or a judgment by any one person which exceeds the sum of $200,000 or any claim or judgment, or portions thereof, which, when totaled with all other claims or judgments paid by the state or its agencies or subdivisions arising out of the same incident or occurrence, exceeds the sum of $300,000. However, a judgment or judgments may be claimed and rendered in excess of these amounts and may be settled and paid pursuant to this act up to $200,000 or $300,000, as the case may be;
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0700-0799/0768/Sections/0768.28.html

The limit is 200k per individual, and if the total of the claims on this incident exceed 300k.....which they will.....he is screwed. We are talking about a lump sum for his injury. This is what happens when people become vegetables and allow the myth of too high of verdicts for injured people........this is criminal. Which is worse......the neglect and care for employees and inmates, or the rush to get elected politicians who voted to cap this man's damages.......a new rope and a bunch of trees for the politicians that limit this man's damages. In another state this man would be getting a minimum of two or three million, and that would barely address his rehab, converting his home and vehicles to allow him access. People are just too damn dumb to care.

It can be waived by the legislature and has repeatedly

nor mention of the sixty or so others who were injured.......they limit liability and treat these people like cattle. What a screwed up situation. The same jail which last year had to have the feds tell them that Jim Crow segregation was against the law......while people here say this did not happen.

Those two dead inmates could be innocent men who are awaiting trial, yet nobody cared.....they smelled dangerous levels of gas and ignored it.......I wonder if staff would have been concerned if it was a nursing home and they had family in the same......

Mr Ichi wrote:No mention or concern for the 2 inmates that were killed?  What happens to their families and loved ones?

Their families will probably get huge pay-outs.
The jail should have been evacuated when it smelled like gas.

Their families will probably get huge pay-outs.

Their families will get no more than 200k. So the father who was a cement finisher and was behind in child support is dead.........do you really thing a 200k payout in three years of foot dragging will support those children? Do you think Tort reform which allowed this awful law was about people, or was it about creating a boogey man of these huge lawsuits which were bankrupting government.....the truth is that it covers incompetent government who can literally murder these men and maim them and their family's huge payout.....200k. Try to get the hospital bed after being paralyzed, try converting bathrooms and doorways in an existing house to allow the deputy to have any semblance of a normal life......there are two crimes....the one where nobody did their duty to protect these people, and the second cowardly legislators who passed this so called tort reform which limits to a measly 200k recovery.....shameful.

The families might bring a suit in federal court. I think they have a good case that their Constitutional rights were violated. I'm also not sure that the FL Statute absolutely prohibits payouts of over 200K.

And no, unlike you suggested, I don't think 200K for the loss of a life in this situation is just or right. It's peanuts.

off subject but did you ever look at what your medical bills were? I have looked at some of mine, and you begin to realize how small 200k is when somebody has a health problem like paralysis. I am so thankful that we have had good insurance during my health issues, and I am ecstatic that other families are getting health insurance. I do not think people understand how we all are so fragile and one illness away from bankruptcy.

2seaoat wrote:off subject but did you ever look at what your medical bills were?  I have looked at some of mine, and you begin to realize how small 200k is when somebody has a health problem like paralysis.   I am so thankful that we have had good insurance during my health issues, and I am ecstatic that other families are getting health insurance.  I do not think people understand how we all are so fragile and one illness away from bankruptcy.

Oh yes, I know about medical bills. Mine are in the hundreds of thousands. We are fortunate to have very good insurance.

Those two dead inmates probably won't have much in the way of medical bills, but the CO most certainly will. His medical bills should be covered for life.

Nekochan wrote:

2seaoat wrote:off subject but did you ever look at what your medical bills were?  I have looked at some of mine, and you begin to realize how small 200k is when somebody has a health problem like paralysis.   I am so thankful that we have had good insurance during my health issues, and I am ecstatic that other families are getting health insurance.  I do not think people understand how we all are so fragile and one illness away from bankruptcy.

Oh yes, I know about medical bills.   Mine are in the hundreds of thousands.   We are fortunate to have very good insurance.

Those two dead inmates probably won't have much in the way of medical bills, but the CO most certainly will.   His medical bills should be covered for life.

He will be covered by workers comp. If and when he settles he will qualify for  medicare and  have SS disability for life.

2seaoat wrote:off subject but did you ever look at what your medical bills were? I have looked at some of mine, and you begin to realize how small 200k is when somebody has a health problem like paralysis. I am so thankful that we have had good insurance during my health issues, and I am ecstatic that other families are getting health insurance. I do not think people understand how we all are so fragile and one illness away from bankruptcy.

There are more things than medical bills that bankrupt people. This paralyzed CO is still going to be making his same salary for quite awhile until disability and such kick into play. If he does not, then the powers that be need to lose their jobs.

The guards failed to keep the inmates safe therefore they should be fired and jailed... The inmates should sue for every penny they can. Getting tossed in jail doesn't mean you are of no value, it does mean the jail is fully responsible for your safety.

____________________________________________________
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I don't understand how this was allowed to happen. I've thought about it for days, from all angles, and I see no reason, no excuse.

Had a gas leak been noticed in a hospital or free-standing health care facility, evacuation would have been immediate, even in the case of a facility in which patients who were court-ordered to be there were present.

I cannot believe the COs and other personnel at the jail did not relay this situation up the chain of command. I refuse to believe such criminal complacency and neglect existed among ALL of the staff who worked there on a daily basis. They had to know their lives were in danger, too. There had to be some reason why line workers at the jail did not push for action to be taken. Job fear, perhaps?

Does the jail not have a chief commanding officer or someone of that nature on duty every shift? Someone with the authority to make this call? A daily chief decision maker, if you will? And if they did, did that person relay this situation to the county? Did someone higher up at the county dismiss a report lodged by a jail decision-maker, and if so, why did said decision-maker not push it further?

Here is an excellent article online about moral distress and moral courage in the nursing profession. The premises of the study apply here, too.

http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/EthicsStandards/Courage-and-Distress/Moral-Distress-and-Courage-in-Everyday-Practice.html

EDIT:  Albert Einstein is quoted in this paragraph from the article above:

"Such fears may inhibit nurses and other practitioners from acting ethically. Lachman (2009) cited Albert Einstein as saying, 'the world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing'."

PACEDOG#1 wrote:

2seaoat wrote:off subject but did you ever look at what your medical bills were?  I have looked at some of mine, and you begin to realize how small 200k is when somebody has a health problem like paralysis.   I am so thankful that we have had good insurance during my health issues, and I am ecstatic that other families are getting health insurance.  I do not think people understand how we all are so fragile and one illness away from bankruptcy.

There are more things than medical bills that bankrupt people. This paralyzed CO is still going to be making his same salary for quite awhile until disability and such kick into play. If he does not, then the powers that be need to lose their jobs.

No he won't be making his same salary. Unless he had a separate disability policy, he will go on worker's comp. which pays 60% of his salary until he reaches maximum wellness. He will then go on ss disability and won't be eligible for medicare for the first two years. On a CO's salary, it won't be much. He will have to get Obamacare or take Cobra which will be enormous. Until he gets a worker's comp settlement or a lawsuit settlement he won't be doing too well.

Until he gets a worker's comp settlement or a lawsuit settlement he won't be doing too well.


Exactly, but the real tragedy is that his damages are capped at 200k. Every so called reform of the tort system only hurts real victims. If there was an easy way to attack fraud and abuses, it sure is not setting caps on legitimately injured people who suffer from reckless and negligent behavior and then hide behind the tort immunity act and caps. I wish the people who passed this cowardly legislation had to fill this man's shoes over the next thirty years on that 200k.......there were more than one criminal who was present when this man was injured......the rest of them are in Tallahassee.