Video shows a Nashville corrections officer pepper spray an inmate for no reason.

Oluwatobi Ola was fired by CoreCivic and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault.

Victim alleges he was assaulted because he was considering a lawsuit against the jail.

Editor's note: This story contains video footage containing some scenes of violence.

Police have released video footage of a former corrections officer at Nashville's privately-run jail pepper spraying an inmate without justification in the middle of the night.

Oluwatobi Ola, 25, of Smyrna, was arrested last year and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault, but his conviction was dismissed in January after he completed an eight-week anger management class, according to court records.

Ola was also fired by CoreCivic, a massive private corrections company that manages the Metro Davidson County Detention Facility where Ola worked, and prisons throughout Tennessee.

The inmate who was assaulted, James Nelson, alleged that Ola attacked him because he was considering filing a lawsuit against CoreCivic over a scabies infection. If that was truly Ola’s plan, it backfired: Nelson still joined the scabies lawsuit and also filed a new suit against CoreCivic over the pepper spray assault.

“The kind of pepper spray they use is very powerful — it’s not the over-the-counter variety you get at the grocery store,” said John Maher, an attorney representing Nelson. “What was supposed to be used as a tool to protect a guard was instead being used to punish and even torture.”

Despite firing Ola, CoreCivic is defending his actions in civil court.

Although the video footage of the assault was not released until this week, the actual incident occurred in the middle of the night on July 20, 2017. Ola awoke Nelson at about 1:45 a.m. to search his cell, sending Nelson into a common area of the jail called a “sally port” that is in full view of a security camera.

CORECIVIC:Prison guard reported sexual harassment. HR said 'boys will be boys'

PRIVATE PRISONS:Protesters arrested for blocking CoreCivic HQ in Nashville

The video footage spans about 10 minutes and has no sound. It shows Nelson enter the sally port at 1:47 a.m., followed by Ola two minutes later. The men then talk for about two minutes. Nelsons appears agitated at times, pacing, nodding and gesturing to Ola’s belt. Ola appears to remove his pepper spray from a holster on his belt, then Nelson takes two step backwards, distancing himself from the guard.

Ola then blasts Nelson with the pepper spray, causing the inmate to turn his body away and try to protect his face. Ola follows him forward, spraying continuously. When Nelson bends over and covers his face with his arms, Ola leans over, attempting find a better angle to spray the inmate.

A second later, Nelson counterattacks. He leaps toward Ola, swinging wildly. Ola ducks under a punch, tackles Nelson to the ground and pins him. Nelson remains pinned for about a minute until another member of the jail staff arrive to handcuff him and escort him out of the sally port, ending the video.

During the ensuing jail investigation, Ola wrote two statements in the incident, saying both times that Nelson threatened him and refused to follow his directions. One statement made no mention of the pepper spray. In the other statement, Ola said he used the pepper spray because the Nelson’s “body movement” made him think the inmate “wanted to lunge at me.”

According to the CoreCivic’s internal report, investigators eventually determined Ola was “not entire truthful” about the incident and that his use of force was “not reasonable or necessary.”

CoreCivic defends Ola in civil court

Nelson, who is no longer incarcerated at the Nashville jail, filed a lawsuit against Ola and CoreCivic, both of whom denied all wrongdoing in civil court. Nelson alleged in his lawsuit that Ola attacked him because he was considering joining a federal class-action lawsuit. The lawsuit accused CoreCivic of refusing to treat a widespread scabies outbreak and retaliating against inmates who sought treatment.

SCABIES:CoreCivic agrees to pay Metro employee scabies costs, with caveats

The class action lawsuit was filed about a month before Nelson was pepper sprayed. Nelson alleged he had scabies at the time and that Ola found legal documents related to the class action suit while searching Nelson’s room on the night of the assault.

“He became very irate once he saw that lawsuit,” said Maher in a prior interview. “He decided he was going to punish my client right then.”

Both the scabies lawsuit and Nelson’s lawsuit will continue in court. Although CoreCivic fired Ola, its attorneys will continue to represent him in civil court, where the company has admitted no wrongdoing.

CoreCivic attorneys admitted in civil court that Ola used pepper spray on Nelson but denied the spray was unjustified and said the spray was used “based upon Nelson’s behavior.”

Ola’s criminal defense attorney, Jessica Van Dyke, declined to comment. CoreCivic refused to comment on the assault, but insisted the company was "committed to following the policies and procedures in place for the safety of inmates and staff."

"Corrections is a challenging profession," the company said in a email statement. "And people in facilities make difficult, split-second decisions every day while on the job."

GET THE APP:Stories that matter to you from The Tennessean on your mobile device

Brett Kelman is the health care reporter for The Tennessean. He can be reached at 615-259-8287 or at brett.kelman@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter at @brettkelman.