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$9,000 Award for Hawaiian Prisoners Bitten By Dogs at Oklahoma CCA Prison

On October 31, 2008, a Hawaiian state court awarded $3,000 each in damages to three Hawaiian prisoners who were bitten by dogs while incarcerated at a private prison in Oklahoma.
Jonathan K. Lum, John Daffron and Frank Frisbee are Hawaiian state prisoners who were incarcerated at the Diamond Back Correctional Facility in Watonga, Oklahoma, a private prison run by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). They alleged the prison was engaged in a for-profit program of training dogs donated by animal shelters then sell-ing them. All three were bitten by dogs, two by the same dogs in separate incidents. They filed suit against Hawaii and CCA in Hawaiian state court.

Plaintiffs alleged defendants were negligent and grossly negligent because they had prior notice the dogs were dangerous and had bitten other prisoners. They alleged bleeding, scarring, fright, emotional distress and tear duct in-jury on one prisoner. The case was sent to arbitration. The defendants claimed that the program was not for profit be-cause they gave the dogs away and they had given free medical attention to the plaintiffs who suffered minimal injury and scarring. They claimed Lum was never bitten by a dog, but had fallen down in a bathroom, and alleged Daffron had contributed to his injury. The arbitrator awarded $3,000 to each plaintiff for general damages solely against CCA. Plain-tiffs were also awarded costs of $277.67. Plaintiffs were represented by attorneys John L. Rapp and Meyers S. Briner. See: Lum v. Hawaii, Hawaii 1st Circuit, Civil No. 071570.


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Lum v. Hawaii