Court: ODRC Liable For Inmate's Injuries

An Ohio Court of Claims magistrate says the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections is liable for the injuries of a inmate who fell out of his top bunk.  The magistrate says the agency knew the risks and should not have assigned 82-year-old Roy Buchanan to a top bunk. Buchanan's complaint says he lost his balance and fell out of his bunk onto the concrete floor of a dorm at the Hocking Correctional Facility in Nelsonville in December 2012. The magistrate says Buchanan had back problems and a hernia, and his ability to climb in and out of an upper bunk was substantially limited. Buchanan, was imprisoned in 2005 for rape.