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- <text id=93TT2384>
- <title>
- Feb. 01, 1993: Guns and Ruses
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1993
- Feb. 01, 1993 Clinton's First Blunder
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- THE WEEK
- SOCIETY, Page 22
- Guns and Ruses
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p>New York inmates may be shooting themselves so they can sue
- the city
- </p>
- <p> According to Yiddish lore, the classic definition of chutzpah is
- a man who kills both parents and then throws himself on the
- mercy of the court as an orphan. Inmates in New York City may be
- offering a modern illustration: some prisoners may be turning
- guns on themselves in order to file multimillion-dollar
- lawsuits against the city--for failing to provide adequate
- protection in jail. The city's department of investigation says
- there are currently at least eight such suits filed or pending,
- seeking damages of up to $8.5 million. Investigators charge that
- the majority of the suits involve self-inflicted injuries; none
- as yet have come to trial. Since mid-1987, 12 inmates and one
- correction officer have been wounded by gunfire in city jails,
- according to the department; also, five prison employees have
- been arrested for smuggling guns into jail. If proved, the
- city's charges of self-inflicted wounds would make the criminals
- their own victims and perhaps the only ones who end up paying
- for these alleged crimes.
- </p>
-
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
-
-