Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction is liable for the injuries of an 80-year-old inmate who fell out of his top bunk, a state court says.
A ruling by Ohio Court of Claims magistrate earlier this month says the state prison system knew the risks and shouldn’t have assigned inmate Roy Buchanan to a top bunk.
The order does not rule on amount of monetary damages, which would be determined in a separate proceeding, the Ohio Supreme Court’s news service said.
Buchanan’s complaint said he lost his balance and fell out of his bunk onto the concrete floor of the dorm where he lived at the Hocking Correctional Facility in December 2012.
The magistrate noted that Buchanan had back problems and a hernia, and his ability to climb in and out of an upper bunk was substantially limited.
Buchanan, now 82, was imprisoned in 2005 for rape. He was sentenced to between 15 and 151 years in prison after he was convicted of repeatedly molesting a girl from 1991 and 1996.