Gay inmate sues prison for ignoring threats that led to him being repeatedly raped by fellow inmate
The unnamed inmate claims he asked for help but received nothing
A gay inmate is suing a Colorado prison for doing nothing after he was repeatedly raped by a fellow prisoner.
The 21-year-old unnamed man is suing the Florence prison for compensation and a punitive award for the physical and emotional pain he suffered.
According to the Denver Post, the threats began in August 2014 when eight members of a prison gang called “The Boys’ started to insult him for being gay.
Denver attorney David Lane, who filed the lawsuit on the victim’s behalf, described the incident as “sadistic.”
He said: “They set him up to be beaten and raped and that is exactly what happened to him.”
The gang of men, including his cellmate William Mexican “voted him off the yard” and threatened to attack him if the victim didn’t go into segregation. He claims to have made an “emotional plea” to prison officials, telling them his life was in danger and asked to be placed in protective custody.
Officers investigated the threats by questioning the gang members. They denied the allegations except Mexican, who “openly admitted to having made threats”.
According to the lawsuit, Mexican told investigators he would “have issues” if the victim was returned to the same yard. After the report was given to the warden, prison officials disciplined the victim for being “deceitful” about the threats.
Two months later, on October 8, 2014, prison officials placed him in the same cell as Mexican, who taunted him in front of officers by asking if he was nervous.
The lawsuit claims that Mexican repeatedly beat and raped the victim and listed his offenses to the victim, which include stabbing someone to death. He then threatened to stab the victim if he told officers anything and made him clean blood off the walls and floor.
Several days later, the victim told officers that Mexican had caused injuries to his rectum, ribs, chest, left bicep and face. When an officer took him to the hospital, he reportedly laughed when the victim claimed to have been beaten.
Mexican later reportedly admitted to assaulting the victim because he didn’t want other inmates to think he “condoned homosexuality”, the Denver Post reports.