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Harris v. Thompson Contractors2/5/2002
h discharged prisoner or the dependents or next of kin of such discharged prisoner may have the benefit of this Article by applying to the Industrial Commission as any other employee; . . . ." G.S. § 97-13(c) (emphasis added).
A prisoner being worked by the State is specifically excluded from the Act unless the disabling injury continues after the discharge of the prisoner or the prisoner suffers an accidental death. Richardson v. N. C. Dept. of Correction, 118 N.C. App. 704, 705, 457 S.E.2d 325, 326 (1995), aff'd, 345 N.C. 128, 478 S.E.2d 501 (1996).
G.S. § 148-26(a) provides that " n exercising his power to enter into contracts to supply inmate labor as provided by this section, the Secretary of Correction shall not assign any inmate to work under any such contract who is eligible for work release as provided in this Article, . . . ." (Emphasis added.) In addition, " o prisoner employed in the free community under the provisions of [G.S. § 148-33.1] shall be deemed to be an agent, employee, or involuntary servant of the State prison system while working in the free community or going to or from such employment." G.S. § 148-33.1(g). The DOC is not authorized to assign a prisoner pursuant to any labor contracts when that prisoner is eligible for work release. Also, a prisoner employed through the work release program is not an agent or employee of the State prison system. This, along with the stipulations and Pre-Trial Agreement, is sufficient to show that plaintiff was not "being worked by the State."
The General Assembly has specifically excluded the provisions of the Workers' Compensation Act from certain prison laborers. Counties may work prisoners confined in local confinement facilities. G.S. § 162-58. The General Statutes provide for the liability of counties that work prisoners. G.S. § 162-61. Counties are liable for emergency medical services for prisoners while they are working and for injuries to third parties incurred through the negligence of working prisoners. Id. However, this provision states that the "[Employment Security and Workers' Compensation Act] of the General Statutes shall have no application to prisoners" worked by counties. Id. However, there is no similar exclusion in the statutes authorizing work release. Prisoners employed in the work release program are only specifically excluded from "any benefits under Chapter 96 of the General Statutes entitled `Employment Security' during the term of the sentence" but there is no specific exclusion for Chapter 97, the Workers' Compensation Act. G.S. § 148-33.1(h). In the statute authorizing work release, the General Assembly made no specific exclusion for the Workers' Compensation Act as it did in the statutes authorizing the working of county prisoners.
Parker is distinguishable from the instant case. In Parker, the claimant was injured on the job before his incarceration and was already receiving benefits. Parker at 86, 422 S.E.2d at 585. Here, plaintiff was already incarcerated at the time of his injury and was involved in the work release program when his work related injury occurred.
Moreover, in Parker's holding, this Court in dicta stated "we note that the legislature may want to examine the possibility of continuing payment of benefits during a period of incarceration directly to a prisoner's dependents, who may have been relying on the disability payments as a major, or sole, source of income." Id. at 88, 422 S.E.2d at 587.
Here, the Full Commission entered the following award:
1. Defendants shall pay the Department of Correction temporary total disability compensation at the rate of $204.99 per week for the period of 17 September 1997 through the pr
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