To read the entire text of the lawsuit, click here.
A second Whitley County Detention Center inmate has filed a federal lawsuit against Jailer Ken Mobley, and other staff at the jail, claiming he was abused and denied medical treatment.
William J. Young, 32, asks in a civil complaint filed Aug. 20 in U.S. District Court in London that Mobley, Chief Deputy Jailer Bob O’Neill, Deputy Jailers Cecil Powers and Joe Fuson, and Head Nurse Melinda Moses all be fired and be forced to issue him a public apology for his alleged mistreatment. He is also asking for $10 million in damages.
Young claims that on July 3, Powers took him out of his cell and placed him in isolation for "laughing about a joke one of the other cell mates made …" He says Powers yelled at him and slapped him, them pushed him down on the ground and stepped on his left shoulder.
Young says Powers came back later and "threatened and demeaned" him outside of the cell.
In the complaint, Young claims Fuson took the shirt Powers stepped on as evidence of the assault, but that it "disappeared" when Kentucky Department of Corrections officials came to investigate.
Mobley said Tuesday that Powers has been placed on unpaid administrative leave pending the outcome of the complaint being taken to the Whitley County Grand Jury early next month.
"I put Cecil on leave until it is all cleared up," Mobley said. "I had to. I just don’t want to do nothing. He was the one that supposedly shut him down. I don’t know what happened because I wasn’t there. When they make an accusation you got to follow through on it."
Young claims that Powers used to work at the jail, but was dismissed. He said O’Neill hired him back.
Mobley denies that, saying Powers was never terminated as a jail employee.
Young is awaiting trial on burglary, kidnapping, sex abuse and attempted murder charges. He is also charged with misdemeanor assault.
Also in the lawsuit, Young complains that he caught MSRA (staff infection) and was refused medical attention from jail staff and was denied prescribed medications. He said he ended up treating the infection himself.
Filing the complaint without the help of an attorney, Young said he has tried to use the jail’s administrative complaint process to no avail.
"We file a grievance form turn it in and it either gets answered or goes in the trash," he writes. "I filled out a form, then an incident report and produced evidence of the assault. I also asked to file charges for at least a week. Nothing happened."
Since filing the complaint, Young has been moved to the McCreary County Detention Center in Whitley City. Mobley said it is typical for inmates who file lawsuits against jail staff to be moved to avoid any possible accusations of retribution.
No formal response has yet been filed in the case.
The lawsuit is the second against the jail this month. On Aug. 10, another inmate at the jail, Willie Lowe, filed a federal lawsuit against Mobley, O’Neill and Deputy Jailers Greg Rhodes and Jason Strunk for cursing at him and threatening him. He also said he was denied medical treatment.
