A Butler County man is one of two people filing a lawsuit alleging cruel and unusual punishment after being held in solitary confinement.

The Lindsay Law Firm has filed a complaint on behalf of Mark Bowman against the state’s Secretary of Corrections as well as the Superintendent of State Correctional Institution Mercer in both official and individual capacities.

After being placed on probation as a result of a charge of theft in Ohio, Bowman was arrested on a charge of identity theft in Venango County. This triggered a violation of his probation and lead to his incarceration in SCI Mercer where he served over eight months in solitary confinement.

Bowman maintains that he then agreed to plead guilty to the charges against him in order not to be returned to solitary confinement. As a result of that incarceration, Bowman alleges that he suffered severe depression and psychological trauma, lost his business, and suffered losses in his personal life.

The other plaintiff in this case is a Washington County man who has made similar allegations.