Guards Ignored Threats Against Gay Inmate Who Was Beaten, Raped, Lawsuit Says

A gay inmate in Colorado has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons, alleging that he was beaten and repeatedly raped by another inmate who had openly threatened him. The lawsuit claims that prison guards at a federal facility in Florence, Colorado, knowingly put him in a position of danger.

“Constitutional rights of inmates are still constitutional rights,” said the victim's attorney Eleanore Wedum in a phone interview with International Business Times. “This is outrageous.”

The bureau told IBT in an email that it does not comment on pending litigation.

The suit alleges that the victim, who was 21 years old at the time, began receiving threats on Aug. 6, 2014, from an American Indian prison gang called “The Boys.” The lawsuit alleged that the victim informed several prison guards at the supermax facility about the threats and asked to be placed in protective custody.

The guards investigated the threats by asking the gang about them. The lawsuit said one inmate, William Mexican, “openly admitted to having made threats,” against the alleged victim. Mexican told guards the alleged victim “would have issues” if he didn’t separate himself from the prison yard that Mexican and The Boys used.

The warden was given the report and the lawsuit said the victim was punished for being “deceitful.”

The victim was assigned to the same cell as Mexican on Oct. 8 that year. The lawsuit says that over the next three days Mexican beat and raped the victim and forced him to clean blood from the cell. The lawsuit said that Mexican threatened to stab the victim if he told authorities. The suit claimed that the victim pressed a “duress” button in the cell, but that it was ignored. The victim allegedly told guards on Oct. 10 that Mexican injured his rectum, ribs, chest, left bicep and face. The suit claimed a guard laughed at the victim when he was taken to the hospital.

“This is malice. This is sadistic. They set him up to be beaten and raped and that is exactly what happened to him,” the victim’s attorney Davide Lane told the Denver Post.

In 2015, Mexican pleaded guilty to assault charges stemming from the incident. The lawsuit said Mexican admitted to beating the victim so other inmates wouldn’t think he “condoned homosexuality.”

The lawsuit was filed in two steps, the most recent of which was filed Dec. 26, 2017.