Morris v. State

Claimant, Leslie G. Morris, filed his complaint on November 14, 1957 seeking damages for the loss of his right ring finger, while an inmate of the Illinois State Penitentiary, Menard, Illinois.

Claimant was assigned to the woodworking shop, and was engaged in making an officer’s club on a machine known as a jointer. In pushing the wood through the machine, his hand slipped into the blades, and he suffered a traumatic amputation of the tip of his right fourth finger.

This machine has three cutting blades that revolve at a high speed, and, on the date in question, was not equipped with a safety…