Ex-inmate sues prison staff, alleges assaults by cellmate

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – A former inmate is suing staff of the Oregon Department of Corrections, alleging they failed to protect him from a convicted sex offender.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports the former inmate, who says he was sexually assaulted repeatedly by the convicted sex offender placed in a cell with him, is seeking $5 million in damages in a civil rights lawsuit filed Sunday in U.S. District Court in Portland.

He claims Gianfranco Coraquillo should never have been put in the same holding cell with him at the medium-security Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem.

Court records show Coraquillo was convicted in Clackamas County in 2011 of three counts of first-degree sexual abuse for a 2010 offense involving a 10-year-old girl.

He’s not due for release from prison until January 2023.

Corrections Department spokeswoman Jennifer Black declined comment, citing the pending lawsuit.