An Atlanta federal inmate is seeking $2.5 million from the U.S. Prison Bureau in a lawsuit claiming that a prison doctor raped him.
The civil complaint filed Thursday in federal court also says the agency did not screen the doctor adequately and hired him after allegations of inmate sexual abuse at a Washington, D.C., prison had surfaced.
It is the second suit filed in less than a month involving Dr. Lewis Jackson, who pleaded guilty in November 2012 to sexually assaulting three inmates in 2011 and 2012 when he worked for the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta. He was sentenced in 2013 to two years in prison.
The inmate in the latest suit, identified as “James Doe,” is “one of the people the doctor has pleaded guilty to doing this to,” attorney Craig N. Cowart told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
According to the lawsuit, “James Doe” was attacked at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta in September 2011.
“Dr. Jackson used force and threats of adverse official action, including threatening to subject plaintiff to punishment and to affect plaintiff’s discharge day by official action, to compel the plaintiff to acquiesce in his rape and to the other abuse,” the suit says. It claims Jackson also offered contraband to some inmates in exchange for sex.
The lawsuit charges that Jackson had previously assaulted and abused other inmates and “officers, employees, and persons acting on behalf of defendant at the Atlanta Penitentiary were aware of these allegations of sexual assault, battery, and rape, and were aware of the allegations of inappropriate medical care.”
Cowart suggested a deeper investigation is needed. “It’s a question about who knew things and should’ve put a stop to doing this to my client,” he said.
The lawsuit said “James Doe” has suffered mental, physical, and emotional stress as a result of the sexual assault, causing among other things post-traumatic stress disorder, insomnia, anxiety attacks and creating questions about his sexuality.
“Further, plaintiff lives in constant fear of retaliation by inmates who were receiving contraband from Dr. Jackson for sexual favors, but have now lost their source of contraband,” the lawsuit said.
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