By Brian Bowling
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
PITTSBURGH — An inmate claims in a federal lawsuit filed on Monday that top officials from the state prison in Pittsburgh ignored multiple grievances he filed after he was sexually assaulted four times by suspended guard Harry Nicoletti.
The unidentified man, who is still in the state prison system, claims that Nicoletti, 60, punched him in the face three times when he tried to resist during the first assault on April 2, 2010. During that and subsequent assaults, Nicoletti threatened to put the prisoner in restricted housing and sabotage his chances of parole, the lawsuit says.
Despite the threats, the inmate filed a complaint after the fourth assault on April 27, 2010, and filed grievances up the chain of command when prison officials didn’t respond to the complaint, the lawsuit says. The man was transferred to SCI-Somerset in November 2010, the lawsuit says.
A state investigation has charged Nicoletti with 117 crimes, including multiple counts of assault and sexual assault.
The prisoner is suing Nicoletti and four former prison officials: Melvin Lockett, Martin Kovacs, Janice Niemiec and John Wiser. Three other inmates have filed lawsuits claiming Nicoletti physically or sexually assaulted them.
The Department of Corrections, which is defending the four prison officials in the other civil lawsuits, declined comment. Nicoletti’s attorney couldn’t immediately be reached.
Republished with permission from The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review