ADN

Posted: **Wed Feb 11, 2009 3:38 am**

MADISON, Wis. (AP): A judge has slashed the $295,000 award a jury gave to a Wisconsin prisoner who claimed his rights were violated by being forced to sleep on a moldy, stinky mttress.

A federal jury awarded Reggie Townsend that amount in punitive damages in September.

It found that New Lisbon Correctional
Institution Sgt. Jerry Allen ignored Townsend's complaints about the mattress being wet because he had to sleep near a shower.

Judge Barbara Crabb on Tuesday found the amount excessive. She ordered Townsend to accept $29,500 or go to trial over the amount.

Townsend's attorney, David Harth, didn't immediately return a message left at his office.

Townsend, 29, of Milwaukee, is serving a 23-year sentence for reckless homicide.

I swear...the day that prisoners can sue the prison guards watching over them is the true sign of the beginning of the end.

Posted: **Wed Feb 11, 2009 5:02 pm**

It certainly sucks, but our shit penal system creates these things...Human rights violations are coming back to the forefront now...I think they're even going after Dubya for those things...295K is ridiculous, shit, 30K is ridiculous...But I think its our own fault for sure...We need to whip asses of minor offenders like they do in Singapore and that way, we won't give a damn about rapists and murders sleeping on a pissy mattress...

Posted: **Wed Feb 11, 2009 5:09 pm**

Hey, Way I see it is: No Human Rights Violations = No being haunted or sued for them later on. Simplicity & Common Sense win.

ADN

Judge: $295K award for prisoner's mattress all wet

Judge: $295K award for prisoner's mattress all wet

Re: Judge: $295K award for prisoner's mattress all wet

Re: Judge: $295K award for prisoner's mattress all wet