Bill blocks work-release inmates from being Mo. employees

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Lawmakers in the House want to overturn a state Supreme Court ruling finding that prison inmates can be considered state employees when they're doing work for the state.

Hortense Cain, an inmate at a state prison in Vandalia, was injured when a tree cut down by another inmate fell on her. Cain needed to have her knee replaced, and a Marion County jury ordered the state Highways and Transportation Commission to pay $412,500 in damages. That was later reduced to $305,021.

The House voted 135-0 last week to approve legislation that would overturn the December court decision, and the measure now goes to the Senate.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Danie Moore, R-Fulton, would specifically state that prison and jail inmates who are given work-release are not to be considered state employees.

The Supreme Court, in an opinion written by Judge Michael Wolff, said the Highways and Transportation Commission could be held liable for Cain's injuries because the other inmate who cut down the tree was acting as a state employee.

That's because the other inmate had been paid by the state for the work, had used a state chain saw and had been told by state supervisors what trees to cut.

A spokesman for the Department of Corrections told the Jefferson City News-Tribune that the agency is worried that the court ruling could create scams where inmates on work-release intentionally injure each other.

------

Work-release bill is HB2590

------

Information from: Daily Capital News, http://www.newstribune.com