DaaaihLoong writes: "A divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that a private firm that runs a correctional facility for the U.S. government cannot be sued in federal court for damages under a precedent allowing federal officials to be held liable.

The case involved John Malesko, who was convicted for federal securities fraud and sentenced to 18 months in prison.

He was diagnosed with a heart condition, and in 1994 was transferred to a halfway house in New York City to serve out the rest of his sentence. The facility was operated by Correctional Services Corp. for the Bureau of Prisons.

He said a guard prevented him from using the elevator to go from the lobby to his room on the fifth floor. While climbing the stairs, he suffered a heart attack, fell and injured himself. He also claimed the company failed to replenish his medication 10 days before the heart attack.

The number of prisoners housed in private facilities nationwide has skyrocketed to more than 141,000 from 15,476 in the last 10 years, Correctional Services Corp. has told the court.

Bureau of Prisons statistics show that about 10 percent of its total population of sentenced prisoners were held in privately operated facilities.

For the full story, go to:

http://news.findlaw.com/business/s/20011127/courtp risonsdc.html"