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The Snake River Correctional Institution sits near the town of Ontario on the border of Idaho.

(Google Earth)

A corrections officer forced a terrified inmate to share a cell with a violent white supremacist who had tormented him at an eastern Oregon prison and then failed to take action when he heard screams from a fatal beating, the inmate's widow alleges in an amended wrongful death lawsuit.

Michael C. Hagen was beaten and stomped on the morning of Feb. 2, 2012, in the Snake River Correctional Institution near Ontario, less than two hours after he checked into his new cellblock, the lawsuit alleges. He died of his wounds the next day at a Boise Hospital.

Tiffany Hagen, widow of the 28-year-old inmate, accuses the Oregon Department of Corrections of negligence for failing to protect her husband and not training the employees who she says put him in harm's way. The suit, filed in Marion County, seeks $7.5 million in damages.

Hagen also sued several corrections officials in Eugene's U.S. District Court, accusing them of violating her husband's constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment. That complaint seeks $7.5 million from each defendant, plus punitive damages.

Her husband's suspected killer, 32-year-old Terry R. Lapich, is accused of being a member of a white supremacist prison gang that wanted her husband "taken out."

Terry R. Lapich

Lapich was serving a long prison term for robbery, theft, burglary, and auto theft at the time of Hagen's death. He was later charged in Malheur County with Hagen's murder.

Michael Hagen was the second of three prisoners at Snake River Correctional Institution killed by other inmates since 2008. Three inmates at other Oregon prisons also were killed by fellow prisoners in that time.

"This is a systemic problem," said Portland lawyer Dennis Steinman, who represents Tiffany Hagen in her lawsuits. "This is not only about Snake River. This is about the prisons statewide."

The Oregon Department of Justice, which represents the prison system, declined to comment, citing its policy of not discussing pending litigation.

Tiffany Hagen's amended Marion County suit runs runs 14 pages and includes a disturbing narrative in which she repeatedly scolds the prison system for failing to keep her husband safe from a group of at least eight white supremacists, including Lapich.

Hagen was no choirboy. A Multnomah County judge sentenced him to Snake River in July 2010 for the brutal robbery of a female clerk at a check-cashing store in Portland. Hagen bound, gagged and beat her head with a baton.

Once Hagen hit the medium-security lockup in Ontario, he tried to stay out of trouble, Steinman said. But members of a white prison gang targeted him for reprisal after he refused to serve as a tattoo artist for its members.

Hagen repeatedly wrote notes to corrections officials – known in prison lingo as "kites" – to let them know he feared the gang would attack him, the lawsuit alleges.

Ten months into his prison term, Hagen's cellmate – identified in court papers as James DeFrank – was accused of murdering another inmate on a prison yard. His next cellmate punched him, according to the complaint.

On Oct. 6, 2011, according to the lawsuit, prison authorities housed Hagen with Cheyenne Evans, also a suspected white supremacist, whose first words to Hagen were, "We are going to have a problem."

"Later that day, Mr. Hagen instigated a fight with Evans in the dayroom," the lawsuit alleges. "Mr. Hagen charged at Evans, but Evans threw him to the ground and punched Mr. Hagen and stomped on him with his boots. Mr. Hagen was badly hurt and had to be taken to an outside hospital."

At a hearing on the altercation, Hagen told prison officials he felt the only way to stop the harassment and threats from his white-supremacist tormenters was to fight one of them. He was ordered into a disciplinary segregation unit – known to inmates as the hole – for 120 days.

There Hagen learned that Evans wanted him "taken out" by anyone who saw him, the lawsuit alleges.

For the next few months, corrections officers and other prison officials looked into Hagen's complaints that white supremacists were threatening his life. They agreed – up and down the chain of command – that Hagen needed to be transferred to another prison, and they told him so, Steinman said.

Hagen excitedly wrote to his wife that he was being moved. He submitted detailed Inmate Conflict Reports against Lapich, Evans and another suspected white supremacist, Michael Miskell, saying he feared they were planning to kill him or have him killed.

A prison intelligence officer, Michael Foley, phoned staffers in the Disciplinary Segregation Unit and told them Hagen was going to be transferred and, under no circumstances, was he to be returned to the prison's general population, according to the lawsuit.

"Everyone knew he could not be returned to the general population because his life was in danger," Steinman said.

The complaint alleges that prison personnel let Lapich, Miskell and Evans know that Hagen had informed on their conspiracy to murder him, filed reports against them, and requested a transfer.

On Feb. 2, 2012, Hagen was taken out of the hole and put directly in harm's way, his widow alleges.

An officer identified in the lawsuit as John Gillum was responsible for inmate assignments and ensuring that prisoners weren't placed in cells with inmates with whom they had a reported conflict. The suit alleges Gillum was told about conflicts between Hagen and the prison's white supremacists – including Lapich, Miskell and Evans – but returned Hagen to the general population anyway.

"Further," the lawsuit alleges, "Officer Gillum assigned Mr. Hagen to share a cell with none other than inmate Lapich, one of the people who had threatened his life."

At 8:25 a.m. that day, Hagen arrived in his new cellblock. When he learned his new cellmate was Lapich, he complained to Officer Donald Harris that he and Lapich had a conflict. But Harris allegedly ordered Hagen to report to his new cell, according to Steinman.

"Shortly after Mr. Hagen entered the cell, audible screams came from inside the cell," the lawsuit alleges. "On information and belief, Officer Harris heard the screams coming from the cell and did not take any action to respond."

At 10:05 a.m., Lapich rang the emergency bell in his cell and reported to Harris that Hagen had fallen from his bed.

"Officer Harris found Mr. Hagen on the floor of the cell in a pool of blood and called for a medical response," the lawsuit alleges. "Lapich had severely beaten Mr. Hagen and stomped on his head, breaking Mr. Hagen's nose, fracturing (the bones around his eyes), and causing significant bleeding and swelling in Mr. Hagen's brain. Boot marks were visible on Mr. Hagen's head."

"His entire face was smashed in," Steinman said.

Hagen was flown to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, where he was pronounced dead the next day.

Tiffany Hagen's federal lawsuit was amended on Thursday to include Gillum and Harris as defendants.

-- Bryan Denson