The family of one of two inmates killed in a riot at the Tecumseh state prison in 2015 has filed a lawsuit against the state. The family of Shon Collins filed the lawsuit in Lancaster County District Court. They say the prison was under-staffed and guards failed to protect Collins and another inmate who was killed during the Mother’s Day riot.
From the Omaha World-Herald:
Collins, a sex offender, was in protective custody, separated from other inmates, at the time of the riot because he previously had been threatened and assaulted by other inmates, the lawsuit says.
Yet, on the day of the riot, the suit says, inmates from three housing units, including those in general population and those in protective custody, were all released from their cells to a prison yard to obtain medications.
When the riot broke out, corrections officers quickly were overwhelmed and fled to a prison guard tower, leaving Collins unprotected, the suit says. “The inmates were left to fend for themselves while the staff left their posts and ran for safety.”
The other inmate killed during the riot, Donald Peacock, was also a registered sex offender.