Immigrant from Sierra Leone says he was raped in jail

A Southwest Philadelphia man who fled the African nation of Sierra Leone at age 16 after rebels killed his parents and raped and kidnapped his sisters has sued the city and prison officials, contending that he was assaulted and raped while awaiting trial.

The civil rights suit, reported yesterday in the Philadelphia Daily News, was filed last month in federal court in Philadelphia by Mohamed Fornah, 21. Fornah's lawsuit maintains that he was assaulted, raped, and held hostage in a cell for almost three hours before a prison emergency team rushed into the cell, subdued cellmate Antwone Williams, and took Fornah to a hospital for treatment.

The March 24, 2006, assault at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility occurred, according to the suit, after Williams had threatened over several days to kill Fornah and after he had been removed once and spent a day in the "rubber room," a padded cell where inmates are stripped and held naked so they cannot hurt themselves.

James D. Famiglio, a Broomall lawyer who filed the suit with Stuart A. Carpey of Conshohocken, said Williams was known by prison officials to have a history of violence and psychiatric problems.

"I don't know why they were in the same cell in the first place," Famiglio said, adding that Williams should never have been put back into the cell with Fornah after he was removed.

Prison spokesman Robert Eskind said he could not comment on pending litigation.

According to court documents, Fornah was arrested on Dec. 26, 2005, and charged with robbery and related misdemeanors after a dispute with his girlfriend in which he allegedly took her car keys. He was unable to post bail and was held in prison to await trial.

Fornah's stay was uneventful, according to the lawsuit, until March 15, 2006, when he was assigned to a cell with a 62-year-old inmate who began hitting him with a cane.

Four days later, the suit says, Fornah again was attacked by his cellmate and his foot was injured.

Based on prison policy, both inmates were then assigned to the Punitive Segregation Unit, known among inmates as "the hole."

About March 22, 2006, the suit says, Williams was assigned to Fornah's cell. He soon began acting out, yelling, and threatening to kill Fornah, according to the suit.

The threats culminated on March 24, 2006, when Williams jumped Fornah in his cot, choked him with a towel, and then raped him, the suit says. When Fornah became unconscious and involuntarily defecated, the suit says, Williams stuffed the feces down Fornah's throat.

Famiglio said Fornah was hospitalized for about five days. The charges on which he had been held were dismissed on April 6, 2006, and Fornah was freed.

Williams, 25, who was awaiting trial on charges involving retaliating against a victim or witness, pleaded guilty last month to a count of aggravated assault against Fornah and is serving a sentence of 30 to 60 months.