By Sarah DeSantis
The News-Item
SCRANTON — A Northumberland County Prison inmate alleges two employees of the prison and the six members of the prison board denied him access to the court, law library and exercise in a civil complaint filed Tuesday in federal court.
Nathan Joseph Reigle, 38, an inmate at SCI-Coal Township, is seeking a preliminary and permanent injunction against practices and procedures of the prison, a declaration that the acts violated his rights, punitive damages, court costs and compensatory damages of $1,000 from each of the eight defendants, Prison Warden Bruce Kovach, Records Supervisor Mark Ferguson and prison board members Ann Targonski, Chris Grayson, Vinny Clausi, Richard Shoch, Stephen Bridy and Robert Wolfe.
In the complaint, Reigle said Kovach enforced policy and procedures at the prison that denied him access to the law library, affecting his ability to file appeals from April 21 to July 16.
From June 1 until the date of the suit, Kovach oversaw prison operations that prevented prisoners from leaving their cells for exercise or to get “outside fresh air,” Reigle said.
Ferguson also denied Reigle’s rights under the Post Conviction Relief Act, which allows people found guilty of crimes to appeal their convictions, by not producing or sending orders faxed between May 7 to July 15, Reigle said.
Reigle did not have specific complaints against the six prison board members
Using the standard form for a prisoner filing a civil rights complaint, Reigle said he attempted to manage his complaints within the prison’s administrative system. He said he “informally wrote request slips on issues” then “wrote numerous grievances, which were addressed.”
He appealed the response to the grievances, but he “is still not receiving or did not receive any change to (the) original issues,” he said.
Kovach said Friday he hadn’t been served with the lawsuit yet and is reserving comment until he reads the complaint.
Prison records show Reigle has been incarcerated under the county’s custody in SCI-Coal Township since May 7, when his parole on a theft conviction was revoked because he faced new charges related to breaking into vehicles.