Prison employee files lawsuit over attack
NEW CASTLE, Ind. – A woman who was severely beaten by an inmate at the New Castle Correctional Facility has filed a suit against the prison and her attacker, among others.
According to police reports, Martha Clark, a resident of Marion County, was an employee of a prison vendor on Nov. 29, 2014, when she was attacked by inmate Robert Hudson.
She told investigators that after she caught Hudson trying to steal two pounds of sugar, she fired him from his job in the NCCF kitchen.
Authorities said Hudson repeatedly punched Clark in the head and face, slammed her head against her desk and knocked her unconscious with a blow to the left temple.
Hudson, also accused of attacking another employee who tried to intervene, later pleaded guilty to two counts of battery and was sentenced to four more years in prison.
Hudson, now 47, had previously been convicted of crimes including attempted rape, dealing in cocaine, battery and unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon.
In a lawsuit filed recently in Henry Circuit Court 2 by the Stewart & Stewart law firm of Carmel, Clark alleges her employers “failed to provide a safe working environment” for her.
Defendants in addition to Hudson and the NCCF are the state of Indiana, the Indiana attorney general’s office, the state Department of Correction and the GEO Group, the private firm that operates the New Castle prison.
The suit also alleges defendants in the lawsuit “violated their own politics and procedures by allowing an inmate incarcerated at New Castle Correctional Facility to batter one of their employees.”
It says Clark has suffered “physical pain, mental anguish and the overall loss of enjoyment of life,” and seeks compensation for medical expenses and other damages.
Contact news reporter Douglas Walker at (765) 213-5851. Follow him on Twitter: @DouglasWalkerSP.
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