SAN DIEGO, California

Fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander has filed a lawsuit against R.J. Donovan State Prison officials and California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, alleging that the prison officials failed to keep him safe and to provide adequate medical care after he was assaulted behind bars, a report by ABC 10 News said.

According to the lawsuit, he was attacked by another inmate while waiting to make a phone call on May 18, 2019. He was stabbed multiple times in the face and kicked on the ground.

After the attack he sustained ‘five facial fractures, a lower orbital floor blowout, sinus and nasal fractures, a deviated septum, a 50% abrasion to the right cornea, long term impairment of his vision and respiration, serious nerve damage, PTSD’ according to the complaint.

Alexander is 12 years in to a 59 year sentence after he was convicted in 2008.
The lawsuit names the department as well as Marcus Pollard, the Warden of R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility and Daniel Paramo, the former Warden.

The suit alleged that the prison officials not only failed to protect him from harm but also failed to give proper medical care after he was grievously injured. They kept a ‘deliberate indifference to his medical condition.’
The suit is seeking unspecified monetary damages and a jury trial.

No criminal charges were filed against the assailant, the report noted.

Alexander was arrested at the peak of his career in 2008. He had been featured on America’s Next Top Model and was listed in Newsweek’s ‘Who’s Next in 2007.’

But things changed after being accused by multiple women of sexual assault. Later many of the charges in different cities were dropped, but he was convicted on one count of rape and 15 other counts by a Los Angeles court.

There were accusations against police and prosecution misconduct and there were also problems during the jury trial. Yet he was sentenced to 59 years in prison

Alexander always maintained his innocence. The American Justice Alliance, a group which seeks to free prisoners who have been wrongfully convicted, submitted an amicus brief to the Federal Court.
In it, they wrote Alexander ‘was targeted by a collusion of disgruntled business associates and some former girlfriends, who have admitted they were out to bring him down, and get revenge, seeking notoriety and monetary benefits. He was then subject to a prosecution and trial riddled with extraordinary police misconduct.’

see the lawsuit below in PDF

Anand John sues California authorities after attack at state prison