Man who says he was raped in jail by alleged outlet mall attacker sues Harrison County, sheriff
A man claims he was violently raped in a cell at the Harrison County jail because deputies failed to provide adequate protection for him when they placed him with an inmate accused in the beating and sexual assault of a woman at the Gulfport outlet mall.
The former prisoner is suing the county, Sheriff Troy Peterson and unnamed co-defendants for unspecified punitive and compensatory damages for pain and suffering, mental distress, severe emotional anguish, humiliation and deprivation of privacy involving health care services and more.
In the suit filed in federal court in Gulfport, the former inmates details how deputies and other staff failed to provide adequate and reasonable protection to him against prisoner Andrew Malik Jones, who is accused of raping the victim in their jail cell on July 22, 2022.
Jones has been arrested on a charge of sexual battery in the attack.
The Sun Herald does not identify victims in alleged sex crimes.
The former prisoner said the attack happened two days after his arrest on a felony drug charge. At the time, the sex assault victim said he had been going through fentanyl withdrawals.
After booking, deputies placed the former inmate in a two-person cell with two other prisoners, one being Jones. The former inmate said in the lawsuit that deputies left him alone in the cell with Jones despite knowing he had a propensity for violence because he was jailed on charges related to the robbery and rape of a woman in a bathroom at Gulfport Premium Outlets.
The attack allegedly happened shortly after the former prisoner woke up to Jones jabbing him in the side.
He said he got up to use the bathroom when Jones grabbed him, “brutally assaulted (him) by pushing him down, physically assaulting him and then violently raping him.”
Afterward, the suit said, Jones threatened further harm if he reported the crime.
The prisoner said he tried to alert jail staff at the time of the attack, but a device for inmates to alert deputies wasn’t working at the time, the suit says. The former prisoner had to wait until the next day to report the crime.
Once he reported the incident, the prisoner said he suffered additional emotional distress, ridicule, humiliation, and more because officials questioned him about the rape in front of other inmates, staff and deputies.
Later, at Memorial Hospital of Gulfport, the inmate said deputies ridiculed him about what had happened in front of hospital officials. One deputy even took a picture of him in a hospital bed, according to the lawsuit.
The problems continued once the inmate returned to the jail from the hospital, and medical staff and deputies allegedly continued to ask him about what happened in front of other inmates.
The lawsuit claims deputies and staff violated the former prisoner’s civil rights and failed to protect him when they knew or should have known Jones was physically violent.
In addition, the suit claims Harrison County Sheriff Troy Peterson and other unnamed co-defendants failed to properly maintain equipment in the jail to ensure the safety of prisoners, and failed to protect the privacy of the inmate reporting crimes and receiving medical treatment.
Attorney William Alex Brady is representing the former prisoner.
A lawsuit represents one side of a story.
This story was originally published December 13, 2022 at 9:47 AM.
