State settles lawsuit with inmate over seizure of a walking boot

Treasurer Dereck Davis (D) questioned the need for a $25,000 settlement with an inmate who had his walking boot confiscated by correctional officers at the Western Correctional Institution in Cumberland in 2020. File photo by Bryan P. Sears.

The Maryland Department of Corrections will pay an inmate at the Western Correctional Institution $25,000 to settle a federal lawsuit after corrections officers confiscated his walking boot, a prescribed medical device they said could be weaponized.

The three-member Board of Public Works Wednesday unanimously approved the settlement with George Bobbitt, 59. But Treasurer Dereck Davis, a member of the panel, asked why the settlement was necessary at all.

“It’s more common sense — reading the facts of the case … if a doctor has prescribed something, how do we confiscate it without consulting with the medical team, if nothing else, about a possible alternative that would prevent or provide less risk?” Davis asked.

“Because of that lack of a simple question — ‘What else can we do that would provide the same level of care without this potential risk?’ — it’s going to cost the state $25,000,” he said. “I’m sure that alternative would cost less than $25,000.”

Davis has routinely questioned the number of lawsuit settlements related to alleged law enforcement and correctional officer misconduct.

Bobbitt, then 55 and an inmate at the Western Correctional Institution near Cumberland, alleged in a federal lawsuit that a corrections officers took a walking boot prescribed for him by a doctor following a surgical procedure. The device, which immobilizes the foot, was intended to be part of his treatment and recovery.

But Bobbitt said guards confiscated the device, alleging a safety issue. The seizure caused him pain and discomfort as he attempted to walk on his injured foot, he said in his suit.

Bobbitt sued in U.S. District Court in 2020 after unsuccessfully appealing the seizure through a prison grievance process. In the lawsuit, he alleged that the seizure constituted cruel and unusual punishment and violated his civil rights.

He asked a federal judge to order the prison to return the medical device. He also asked for civil penalties against corrections staff who seized the device.

Assistant Attorney General Teresa Kelly told Davis and the board, chaired by Gov. Wes Moore (D), that the situation, which happened under the administration of Gov. Larry Hogan (R), was “unfortunate.” Some medical devices, however, constitute a safety concern in prison, she said.

“Steps are being made and have been made to make sure that questions are asked in advance when these situations arise, that medical providers are aware that certain devices are not permitted out on the compound, so that prisoners who are prescribed devices such as a controlled ankle movement, such as is at issue in this case, will stay in the infirmary if they are required to use the boot,” Kelly told Davis.

Inmates who must use a boot or similar device would likely remain “in the infirmary where they’re better monitored, so that they do not weaponize the boot. And that if they are permitted … to be released to the compound … that they are given an appropriate alternative device, whether that be a wheelchair or something else that is … safe,” she said.

“So, the medical department is quite well aware of these situations. And custody staff are also reminded regularly of the importance of checking to make sure that medical devices are either required, and if not required, there’s an alternative,” Kelly said. “So, we anticipate that a situation like the one alleged in this case does not arise again.”