By Rich Lord
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
PITTSBURGH, Pa. — The state has settled a lawsuit filed by a prison inmate who claimed that he faced retaliation after he stuck up for other convicts at the State Correctional Institution Pittsburgh.
Robert Veith, 52, of the Hill District, claimed in the 2012 lawsuit that from late 2010 through mid-2011, he was held in solitary confinement for opposing the contamination of food served to an inmate believed to a pedophile.
Documents filed in U.S. District Court today indicate that the case is dismissed. Veith’s attorney, Steve Barth, said that the state will pay $30,000 to resolve the matter.
Veith, a repeat burglar, thief and robber, got in trouble with corrections officers after he opposed the practice on SCI Pittsburgh’s F Block of harassing inmates believed to be pedophiles, according to the lawsuit.
“He spoke up against someone tampering with someone’s food who may or may not have been a pedophile,” said Mr. Barth. “He just said, ‘Hey, man, leave him alone.’”
That evening, according to Veith’s lawsuit, corrections officers Harry F. Nicoletti and Kevin Friess searched his cell and “assaulted him and he was slammed to the ground.” According to the lawsuit, he then spent around eight months in solitary or restrictive housing.
On F Block, some corrections officers targeted sex offenders for abuse. Nicoletti was convicted of 27 counts related to his interactions with other inmates and sentenced to probation. Charges against Mr. Friess were dropped.
Including Veith’s case, the state has settled lawsuits by former F Block inmates for a total of $286,000. The state also settled a lawsuit by former F Block corrections officers for $50,000 each.
The state “recognized there were issues on F Block,” said Mr. Barth. “They at least appear to be trying to take steps to remedy those issues in dealing with the grievance process, in dealing with misconducts, in improving the way that [corrections officers] deal with inmates.”
A Department of Corrections spokeswoman could not be immediately reached.