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Show Prison inmate files suit A Farmington man who is an inmate at the Utah State Prison has filed a lawsuit against Salt Lake County, members of that county's attorney's office and several employees of the state's corrections department seeking more than $25 million in damages. dam-ages. Ronald Lee Smith, who is serving sentences for issuing a bad check and theft by deception, both second degree felonies, filed the suit through attorney Scott Clark in Federal District Court last week. Smith has served time in and out of the prison since his conviction in 1976. Clark told the Clipper that the suit alleges that Smith suffered a "deprivation of his constitutional rights. He has been seeking a fair hearing, which he hasn't received." Clark said the suit seeks both compensatory and punitive damages from several individuals, among them former Utah State Prison warden Ken Shulsen. There are 12 individually named defendants, not including Salt Lake County and 10 other "John Doe" defendants who allegedly are or were Department of Correction employees. The filing of suits by inmates at the state prison is not uncommon, uncom-mon, but Clark pointed out that Smith's case is different and more credible, inasmuch as it was filed by and through an attorney, and has been assigned to district court Judge Aldon Anderson. |