$4,000 Settlement for CCA Prisoner Injured During Transport

 by David M. Reutter

Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) paid $4,000 to settle a negligence claim stemming from a prisoner being injured during a transport from a drug and rehabilitation facility to CCA’s Silverdale Detention Center in Hamilton County, Tennessee.

The settlement came as a result of a demand letter from attorney Rich Heinsman. While he did not detail the date of the incident in his August 10, 2007 letter, he related that prisoner Ira J. Littles was restrained in leg-irons, belly chains and handcuffs while transported in a CCA van without wearing a seatbelt.

The guards, Williams and Yearby, “were laughing and cursing, play-fighting, and talking about the night before when they had been drinking together.” As they pulled into a courthouse parking lot, Yearby distracted Williams, who was forced to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting a car she had been following too closely.

Littles’ unrestrained body was thrown forward into the unpadded metal screen, causing her to split open her top and bottom lips, and chipping a tooth. The guards did not seek medical attention; they tried to wash the blood off Littles’ face and returned to Silverdale.

Once there, the guards told Littles to lie and say a car pulled out in front of them. She required stitches and was placed on a liquid diet. Littles agreed to the settlement on April 15, 2008.

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