A former York County prison inmate filed a federal lawsuit alleging that four York County prison guards forced him to participate in a fight club as well as what’s being called the, “Retard Olympics”. But this isn’t the first lawsuit accusing the prison guards of the crime. Now the lawsuits are piling up against former York County prison guards, David Whitcomb, Mark Haynes, Adam Marcini, and Daniel Graff. The civil lawsuit is similar to the criminal case which is set to go to trial in December.
The lawsuit states that the prison guards forced former inmate James Hicks to chug an entire gallon of milk, eat a spoonful of cinnamon, snort spicy ramen noodle powder, snort crushed up candy, drink bottles of water containing pepper spray foam, and drink a concoction known as “Mystery Soup” which consisted of olives and cleaning supplies. It goes on to state that the guards allegedly punched Hicks until his arms and legs went numb and forced him to wrestle another inmate.
Hick’s attorney, Richard Maurer says, “I was shocked that a person in authority would in engage in these sorts of activities with an inmate, a person who is powerless by design.”
But representatives for the prison guards maintain their clients are innocent. Daniel Graff’s attorney, Steve Rice believes Hicks has a different agenda.
“We had speculation that maybe he was in this for money.. now we essentially have admission and in a sense a confession. This guy is looking for a payday,” says Rice.
Rice questions why Hicks didn’t report the abuse when he first alleged it started in 2009. Hick’s attorney responded saying, “We expect to develop in discovery that there were compelling reasons why Mr. Hicks did not report the abuse to the warden or to other supervisory personnel.”
Hicks transferred to a different county prison after the alleged abuse surfaced in 2013.
Rice says this new civil lawsuit may not be resolved until after the criminal case, which is set for trial in December. FOX43 reached out to the prison and county for comment but did not receive a response.
