Prisons Draw Fines for Incidents Involving Inmates

The Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Bureau fined Department of Corrections prisons in Fort Madison and Newton a total $92,000 for workplace accidents involving inmates and an incident involving possible exposure of prison employees to infectious materials. A Department of Corrections spokesman reported the state will appeal the fines, with the matter possibly decided by an administrative law judge this spring. The incidents at Fort Madison involved an inmate who suffered a severed finger on a table saw in an Iowa prison industries shop on March 2 and an inmate who was cut severely by an ...