CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cuyahoga County Jail officers attacked an inmate for no reason and later intimidated, harassed and threatened to kill him for interviewing with a U.S. Marshals Service team investigating jail conditions after a string of inmate deaths, according to a lawsuit.

Inmate Corrionne Lawrence, 25, was beaten bloody in an elevator about a month after being booked into the jail. He endured a series of threats— including one in which a corrections officer threatened to kill him and make it look like a suicide. He endured more threats after reporting the abuse to jail officials and U.S. marshals, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.

The FBI is also investigating the incidents, a Cuyahoga County spokeswoman said in March in response to cleveland.com’s public records requests.

Cuyahoga County spokeswoman Mary Louise Madigan said the county does not comment on pending litigation.

The lawsuit, filed by civil rights attorney Ashlie Sletvold, is one of several that have been filed against the county and its jail for civil rights abuses, including a lawsuit into the death of one of nine inmates that died in the facility between June 2018 and May 2019.

“For too long, Cuyahoga County has nurtured a culture of violence at the jail,” Sletvold said in a statement. "Corrections officers should not be doling out beatdowns or threatening people for reporting abuse. It is time for the county to reckon with the scope of the harm its practices have caused. We will hold the county and the individual officers responsible for what they have done to Corrionne Lawrence.”

The jail is the subject of an FBI civil rights investigation and an Ohio Attorney General’s Office criminal probe that has netted 11 indictments and one conviction.

County officials have not provided information on the Oct. 18, 2018 incident involving Lawrence. Surveillance video that the county released to cleveland.com after a public records fight in the Ohio Court of Claims does not show any use-of-force incident.

Attorney Subodh Chandra, who is the leading partner in the same firm as Sletvold, previously filed included details about the incident involving Lawrence in a separate lawsuit filed on behalf of an inmate who was slugged and pepper-sprayed while strapped to a restraint chair.

Lawrence’s lawsuit provides a detailed accounting of his accusations against the county and corrections officers. The suit names Cpl. Christopher Little; officers Brandon Smith, Barry Hickerson and Beverly Witt; and the county itself as defendants.

It accuses the county of failing to oversee the jail, and the officers of physically and psychologically abusing Lawrence.

Little, Smith and Hickerson are all part of the jail’s Special Response Team, known as the “Men in Black” and once called the “goon squad” by former Cuyahoga County Sheriff Clifford Pinkney. The SRT team has been accused of using excessive force against several inmates, and threatening inmates who interviewed with U.S. marshals by calling them “snitches.”

Lawrence was eventually moved out of the county jail at the request of U.S. marshals.

Placed in restraint chair after speaking Spanish

Lawrence was booked into the jail Sept. 16, 2018 on charges of receiving stolen property and illegal gun possession.

He spoke Spanish during his booking, angering officers, according to the lawsuit. They put Lawrence in a restraint chair, even though he posed no threat, the lawsuit says.

Lawrence was then wheeled into a freezing room without food, water or access to a restroom. An officer returned four hours later and asked Lawrence if he was ready to cooperate before booking him, the lawsuit says.

Lawrence attacked by another inmate

While being taken to his cell, Lawrence told an officer that he needed to be separated from another inmate. That inmate, Stacy Norris, is accused of fatally shooting Lawrence’s cousin, Dexter Williams, in a retaliation slaying.

Lawrence was initially placed in a different cluster of cells, known as pods. That changed about a month later, when officers brought Lawrence to the same pod as Norris.

As corrections officers walked Lawrence to his new cell, Norris began threatening Lawrence loud enough for at least two corrections officers to hear, the lawsuit says. He shouted he was going to attack him as soon as the cell doors opened the next morning.

Lawrence didn’t sleep that night and urinated in an empty milk carton in order to prepare for a potential attack, the lawsuit says.

The next morning, Witt unlocked Norris’ cell while telling Lawrence “I hope you’re ready,” the lawsuit says. Witt then unlocked Lawrence’s cell and stepped aside, allowing Norris to rush into Lawrence’s cell, the lawsuit says.

Lawrence tossed the urine on Norris, who tackled Lawrence to the ground and attacked him as Witt walked away, the lawsuit says. The SRT broke up the fight.

Smith and Little handcuffed Lawrence and took him to the jail’s medical unit to be checked for injuries. Upon his release, Little and Honaker walked Lawrence to the elevator to “dole out brutal retribution,” the lawsuit says.

Neither officer had his body camera turned on.

Officers attack inmate in elevator

Little ordered a handcuffed Lawrence to stand against a wall of the elevator where he knew surveillance cameras were not working, the lawsuit says. As the elevator doors closed, Little said “let’s play a game,” and punched Lawrence in the head, the suit says.

The blow forced Lawrence’s head to slam against the wall, causing a gash above his eye, the lawsuit says.

Little -- who is trained in mixed martial arts -- punched, kicked and stomped on Lawrence as Honaker watched and did nothing, the lawsuit says. Lawrence got to his feet, and Little punched him in the stomach.

Little then walked Lawrence to his cell and said: “N---r, you better keep your f-----g mouth shut up here or you’re going to see me again,” the lawsuit says.

Lawrence later asked to go to the medical unit for treatment for his head injury. Smith refused and told Lawrence he should stop banging his head against the wall, the lawsuit says.

Because Lawrence bit Norris during the initial fight, he was required to go back to the medical unit to get his blood tested. Little stood close by as a medical unit employee asked about how Lawrence got a new injury in the hour since he had last been in the unit.

Lawrence didn’t answer the question. A nurse asked again, and Lawrence said he didn’t feel comfortable talking about it with Little nearby. Little heard his reply, said Lawrence was “refusing treatment” and dragged him back to his cell by the arm, the lawsuit says.

Attacked in isolation

Lawrence was taken to disciplinary isolation because of the fight with Norris, the lawsuit says. He was restricted to a maximum of 20 minutes per day outside his cell. He was often kept locked up for days at a time, the lawsuit says.

He never got a hearing on his being placed in administrative segregation, a violation of civil rights, the lawsuit says.

One day, Lawrence complained about not being allowed to shower. A jail officer held a can of pepper-spray in his face. The officer, who attorneys said they have not yet identified by name, threatened to hang Lawrence and make it look like Lawrence killed himself, the suit says.

Later that day, the officer returned with Hickerson and another SRT officer. They handcuffed Lawrence and repeatedly slammed his head into the wall, according to the lawsuit.

U.S. Marshals Service shows up to investigate the jail

U.S. marshals spent three days speaking with inmates, officers and jail officials during a three-day span from Oct. 30 through Nov. 1.

The marshals wanted to interview Lawrence, but an SRT officer initially refused to open the cell. The marshal ordered the cell open. The marshal also shouted at Smith, who tried to sneak his way into the cell to listen to what Lawrence was telling the investigators, the lawsuit says.

Lawrence told the marshal about being attacked in the jail, the lawsuit says. Immediately after the marshal left the cell, corrections officers began calling Lawrence a “snitch” and brought him spoiled milk, rotten fruit and moldy bread to eat, the lawsuit says.

Smith on Oct. 31 escorted Lawrence to a follow-up interview with the marshals, the lawsuit says. He told Lawrence: “Why you snitchin’? You a snitch now. Trying to get my boy indicted,” the lawsuit says.

Lawrence interviewed with the marshals anyway. On the way back to his cell, Smith told Lawrence: “You’ll be dealt with for snitching,” the lawsuit says.

The marshals sought to interview Lawrence one more time before they finished their investigation. Lawrence was too scared to be seen talking to them again, but he managed to slip a note to a marshal that said officers had been retaliating against him, the lawsuit says.

U.S. Marshal Theo Anderson, the marshal who led the team of Washington-D.C. based investigators, emailed Pinkney and told him that Lawrence and eight other inmates must “immediately” be removed from the downtown jail because SRT officers were threatening him.

Lawrence was transferred to the county-run Euclid Jail, where he faced more threats, the lawsuit says. He was eventually transferred to the Geauga County Jail.

Lawrence filed a written grievance about the abuse. Jail officials never responded, the lawsuit says.