By Liz Shepherd
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — A former Kosciusko County Jail inmate has filed a civil suit against the Kosciusko County Sheriff, as well as three jail officers, for failing to stop attacks that allegedly occurred while the inmate was in custody.

The suit was filed by Michael Messina, a former inmate who was allegedly attacked and raped by other inmates during their incarceration, against Sheriff Kyle Dukes and KCJ Confinement Officers, who are only listed by their first names in court documents as Travis, Lindsay and Maria.

Court documents state Messina was incarcerated at KCJ from Jan. 11, 2019, until about Feb. 24 of this year. From April through November 2019, Messina was attacked by other inmates on multiple occasions. During incarceration, Messina was at high risk for attacks from other inmates due to Messina’s sexual orientation.

In late April or early May 2019, inmate Curtis DeTurk punched and injured Messina. This attack was reported to jail personnel, leading to Messina being housed in a protective custody cell. In May 2019, while knowing the danger DeTurk posed to Messina, Officer Travis moved DeTurk to Messina’s cell and permitted him to remain housed in the cell with Messina.

Messina warned the three jail officers, as well as other confinement officers, that DeTurk was threatening another attack.

The suit alleges that the defendants ignored Messina’s warnings of the impending danger and failed to move either DeTurk or Messina to be housed in separate cells. Court documents also state the officers failed to reasonably or adequately monitor the activity inside Messina’s cell.

In May 2019, DeTurk physically attacked and raped Messina.

In November 2019, an incident occurred in which Officer Lindsay knowingly and/or recklessly opened Messina’s cell door and left it unsecured while two other inmates were nearby. As a result, inmates Isaah Hough and Joseph Deeter attacked and beat Messina, causing injuries.

Two days after the incident, Officer Lindsay admitted to not protecting Messina from the attack while she was returning Hough and Deeter to Messina’s cell block. At that time, Hough and Deeter said in front of Officer Lindsay, “Let’s beat up Michael.” Officer Lindsay responded in front of Messina and other inmates with “I’m not gonna let you beat him up again, I already let you once.”

Messina contends that the three jail officers were “deliberately indifferent to the known danger of attack by fellow prisoners” and “ignored the known danger and failed to protect (Messina) against the prisoner-on-prisoner attacks.”

The suit also contends the attacks resulted from the sheriff “having an unconstitutional or constitutionally inadequate policy, practice, procedure and/or custom in effect at his jail for protecting prisoners from physical attacks by fellow prisoners.”

Messina also argues the sheriff failed to adequately supervise and/or failed to adequately train jail staff on appropriate steps to take to prevent prisoner-on-prisoner attacks from occurring at the jail.

The suit states the defendants’ conduct led to violations of Messina’s right to due process and the right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment under the Fourteenth and/or Eighth Amendment.

Messina is suing the sheriff and three jail officers for compensatory damages and is demanding a trial by jury for this case.

Summons have been issued to the sheriff and the three jail officers.