By C1 Staff
CLEMENS, Mich. — An inmate convicted of killing his cellmate is suing the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office along with four other inmates about conditions and mental health treatment.
The Advisor & Source reports that Mark Cowans is seeking $10 million from Sheriff Anthony Wichersham, the sheriff’s department and a deputy for unproven complaints including the inability to get a haircut, unnecessary confinement to a restraint chair and “torments.”
Cowans wrote the handwritten three-paged lawsuit himself, and also on behalf of Timothy Fradneck, Peter Labreck, Desmond Turner and Ryan Neely.
Cowans was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison for the unprovoked fatal beating of Ryan Hagerman, with whom he was sharing a cell with at the Mount Clemens facility in 2014.
In the lawsuit, Cowans alleged that the sheriff “tormants [sic] people with actions such as turning on their cell speakers and repeatedly telling them [undecipherable] is the one stealing their thoughts.”
When he was sentenced for Hagerman’s killing, Cowans said he could not explain why he killed the man. He mentioned a confrontation, which is counter to video of the incident.
A psychologist suggested that Cowans’ sudden withdrawal from alcohol or drugs may have triggered his actions.
Cowans and Hagerman were cellmates in the mental health section of the facility for less than a day, and both were incarcerated for relatively minor offenses.
Cowans’ suit was assigned to Judge Terrence Berg.