CAMDEN — A Cumberland County prison inmate filed a federal lawsuit last week alleging corrections officials are illegally depriving him and other inmates of nutritious meals, replacing them with processed food high in sugar and sodium.

Raymond Skelton, 69, an inmate at South Woods State Prison in Bridgeton who has diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, filed the class action lawsuit Oct. 2 in U.S. District Court, alleging officials violated his Eighth Amendment rights by engaging in cruel and unusual punishment and violating the civil rights of more than 12,000 inmates.

The state Department of Corrections, acting DOC Commissioner Marcus Hicks, South Woods State Prison Administrator John Powell, and unnamed dietitians and food service directors who had responsibility for overseeing the diets of state inmates are named as defendants.

A spokesman for the DOC said the department does not comment on active litigation.

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“At some point, the NJDOC apparently decided to deprive New Jersey inmates of foods that would have provided them with the vitamins and nutrients that are the basis for a healthy diet,” said Joseph D. Lento, one of Skelton’s attorneys. “We believe the NJDOC’s inmate diet is not only unlawful — but that it is literally killing inmates from the inside out.”