An inmate who was beaten and sexually assaulted by other inmates who were looking up his rectum for drugs has filed a lawsuit against Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods.
The complaint was filed by attorney Robert A. Rush of Gainesville on Wednesday, July 26 in the Circuit Court of the Fifth Judicial Circuit for Marion County, on behalf of a plaintiff only identified by his initials.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff was incarcerated at the Marion County Jail in July 2019. The incident in question took place on July 30, 2019, at approximately 8:25 p.m. while the inmate was asleep in his top bunk in Pod G, Section C. That section holds approximately 30 bunkbeds, picnic-style tables, phones, toilets, and showers. The complaint accuses Cecil Wryals and Juan Pagan-Ayala of snatching the man from his bunk and throwing him “to the concrete floor.”
Wryals and Pagan-Ayala then dragged the man to the back of the dormitory while telling him to “shit it out.” Although the inmate didn’t know what the men were talking about, he assumed they thought he had concealed drugs in his rectum.
The complaint says the Wryals and Pagan-Ayala then stripped the man of his clothing, put him in a chokehold, and inserted fingers into his anus in search of the drugs.
Two additional inmates, Steven Villafane and Charles Murillo, allegedly assisted in the sexual battery by hanging sheets and blankets in order to block the view from the cameras and other inmates in the area.
For fifteen minutes, the complaint alleges that the inmates assaulted and battered the victim as he was screaming and pleading for help, and that “no one came to assist,” including the detention deputies that were working at the time. After the assault, the inmates dragged the victim to the showers to wash away “all the blood” and feces.
Another inmate witnessed the assault and passed a note to a nurse while he was being seen at the medical clinic. The assault was then reported to Corporal Nathan McClain by the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) coordinator at the jail and an investigation was initiated.
During their investigation, multiple interviews were conducted with inmates that confirmed various details of the assault. During one of the interviews, an inmate described the victim as “screaming bloody murder” while he was being “beaten to death,” “stripped” naked, and sexually assaulted.
Through a review of security video footage, cries and screams of pain can be heard from the plaintiff, while Villfane can be heard yelling “Hey, hey, hey, mind your business, mind your fucking business.”
Wryals, Ayala, Murillo, and Villafane were all prosecuted for the battery.
“The Marion County Jail has a history of inmate-on-inmate sexual abuse and battery, fighting, and illegal drug use by inmates in its custody as a result of improper supervision of inmates by detention staff,” alleges the complaint.
According to the complaint, there were approximately 85 PREA complaints investigated at the Marion County Jail between February 11, 2016 and October 30, 2022.
The complaint requests a jury trial and requests damages more than $50,000.