Shawnee County Jail inmate Eddie A. Gordon Sr., a practicing Muslim and convicted murderer facing sex crime charges, filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday seeking $2 million and alleging his religious rights were violated.
Gordon, acting as his own attorney, filed the lawsuit in a 15-page handwritten petition submitted to U.S. District Court in Topeka.
Defendants listed include the Shawnee County Jail; Aramark, the jail’s food service provider; Brian Cole, director of the Shawnee County Department of Corrections; and Timothy Phelps, a major in that department.
Shawnee County counselor Rich Eckert said Thursday: “The Shawnee County Department of Corrections abides as close as constitutionally possible to the religious dictates of various religions including diet, reading materials or other needs of faith. We are confident Mr. Gordon was treated in an appropriate manner and look forward to this baseless lawsuit being dismissed in a timely manner.”
The lawsuit petition contends Gordon at one point wasn’t fed for 28 hours during the season of Ramadan, when Muslims for 30 days fast from dawn until after sunset.
The petition added that when Gordon was fed, his Ramadan meals were cold and unbearable to eat.
Shawnee County District Court records indicate Gordon, 25, is awaiting trial on charges of rape of a child younger than 14 years old and attempted aggravated criminal sodomy to a child younger than 14.
A jail official said Thursday that Gordon is to be returned to the Kansas Department of Corrections when prosecution is complete in the sexual assault case.
Gordon became a state prison inmate after being sentenced in October 2011 to about 23 years in prison for intentional second-degree murder in the November 2010 gunshot slaying of 24-year-old Vincent G. Lambert at a home in the city’s Oakland community.