Gould v. State

On March 28, 1946, the claimant, Edwin Joseph Gould, then an inmate of Clinton Prison, a State prison at Dannemora, New York, was assigned to a work gang under the supervision of prison guard John M. Stow. Stow’s gang and another gang, supervised by guard Irving J. Dukette, were engaged in the demolition of a building on prison grounds, and on that particular day were breaking down its foundation, which consisted of granite blocks. Gould was assigned to loosening the blocks with a crowbar, which proved difficult, whereupon Stow instructed him to use a sledgehammer. He secured a sledgehammer…