In Rosario v. State (1991), 43 Ill. Ct. Cl. 282, the claimant sought damages for an injury sustained by the claimant during a basketball game. The claimant contended that his foot went through the wooden basketball floor to a depth of four or five inches, causing him to injure his right ankle and break a bone in his upper-right instep. After recognizing that the State has a duty to inmates of penal institutions to maintain reasonably safe conditions, the Court observed as follows: "The existence of a defect is not in itself negligence on the part of the State. (Palmer v. State (1964), 25 Ill. Ct. Cl. 1.) The State must be shown to have had actual or constructive knowledge of the defect." Rosario at 283. In the Rosario case, the Claimant's injury may have been caused by weak wooden flooring, but the Court indicated that in the absence of direct evidence offered by the Claimant as to the nature of the defect which proximately caused his injury, the Claimant could not prove his claim.