HOUSTON -- A former inmate is suing the Texas prison system, alleging violation of the 14th Amendment over the two years he spent in solitary confinement.
Nelson Patterson filed a lawsuit Oct. 5 in the Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas against the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Christopher Carter, Chad Wakefield and David Sweeten.
According to the complaint, Patterson was placed in solitary confinement Nov. 11, 2011 to Nov. 30, 2013, a direct violation of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. As a result, the suit says, he suffered physical and mental harm, lacked access to adequate medical care and experienced aggravation of a pre-existing mental condition.
The lawsuit alleges his confinement also violates the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Patterson seeks damages--compensatory, presumed, nominal and punitive--attorney fees and court costs. He is represented by attorneys William Pieratt Demond and Meagan Hassan of Demond & Hassan PLLC in Houston.
Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas Case number 4:15-cv-02922