Inmates say human waste was in food

Four former inmates of the Citrus County Detention Facility filed a federal lawsuit against the private company that runs the jail, alleging two former officers put human waste in their food and drinks.

The inmates were subject to cruel punishment, torture and battery in 2004, when they were forced to eat the food contaminated with urine and feces, according to the lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Tampa.

The inmates complained the food had a foul odor and didn't taste right, but were forced to eat the food or go hungry, the lawsuit said. After eating the food, they suffered from "vomiting, stomach cramps and nausea," the lawsuit claims.

The lawsuit said correction officers Kevin Hessler and Alexander Diaz "intentionally and repeatedly fed the plaintiffs urine and fecal matter, even after the plaintiffs protested and resisted" because the food tasted and smelled bad.

Grant said a supervisor should have reported the complaints to the jail warden sooner. Charles Mulligan, a former supervisor employed by Corrections Corporation of America, said one of the corrections officers acknowledged to putting human waste in an inmate's drinking jug, according to transcripts of a telephone hearing with the Office of Employment Appeals in Tallahassee on Feb. 16, 2005.

Mulligan was fired because he did not report the incident, the jail's warden, Carlos Melendez, testified at the hearing. Hessler and Diaz, who are accused of battery in the suit, also were fired. Article here.