March 27: An 18-year-old Pendleton County resident files a federal lawsuit in Covington claiming he was assaulted and sodomized by fellow inmates in the jail. The alleged attack took place after the 125-pound man was jailed overnight on traffic violations. A state police report found evidence that a guard said, "Here is some fresh meat" before locking the man up with convicted felons. Five inmates have been indicted on assault and sodomy charges. A Grant County grand jury declined to indict any jail staff.

May 9: John Nelson Taylor, 27, of Grant County files a federal suit against the jail claiming he was assaulted by guards. Taylor claims guards beat him while he was handcuffed, denied him medical treatment and then locked him in an isolation cell to cover up the assault. Taylor, who is serving time on a drug conviction, said the assault followed his spilling a cup of juice while sliding a meal tray through a narrow opening in his cell door.

Thursday: Todd A. Cox, 36, of Falmouth files a federal suit against the jail saying he, too, was assaulted by guards. Cox, who operates an outdoor advertising company with billboards in 14 to 15 counties in Northern and Eastern Kentucky, says he was handcuffed, kicked, denied medical treatment and locked in isolation to cover up the assault. He says he was assaulted after he disobeyed guards' orders by placing his shoes and belt on the cell floor instead of in a plastic bag.

Friday: A 24-year-old Grant County resident with a mental handicap filed suit in federal court saying he was abused while serving time for a violation of his probation. The man said he was placed in a cell with a federal inmate considered dangerous and serving a life sentence. The federal prisoner, who was not identified in the suit, allegedly raped and sodomized the 24-year-old. The suit claims guards falsely publicized to others in the jail that the man was serving time for molesting a child, knowing how alleged child molesters are treated in such facilities.

Source: U.S. District Court