A Schuylkill County Prison inmate has sued the warden and numerous other staff members in federal court, alleging mistreatment while confined there.
In a six-page complaint filed Tuesday, David N. Murphy, Philadelphia, said the prison forced him to sleep on the floor and refused to treat his broken hand, among other alleged civil rights violations.
"I'm laying here right now with a broken hand without any treatment," Murphy alleged in his lawsuit.
He asked for between $500,000 and $1 million in damages, a requirement that prisoners be allowed to sleep on cots instead of the floor and the dismissal, demotion or reprimanding of several prison employees. He named 18 defendants, including the county and the prison.
Murphy also asked that an undercover agent be sent to the prison to note all alleged civil rights violations.
In his lawsuit, Murphy alleged that after he asked for a cot, prison officials forced him to sleep on the floor for more than three weeks.
"I'd like the prison to be forced to provide cots for inmates rather than force them to sleep on the floor like animals," he wrote in the lawsuit.
He also said prison officials refused to treat his broken hand for more than a month, are not feeding him properly and misplaced legal mail they had no right to take in the first place.
"I fell while walking up the stairs and broke my hand," Murphy alleged.
Prison officials refused even to acknowledge his complaints, Murphy alleged.