An inmate of the Blair County Prison awaiting trial on drug charges has filed a federal civil rights petition contending he was injured in November when a deputy warden sprayed him with a volley of “pepper paint balls.”

The paint balls had hard shells, and according to the inmate, 32-year-old Mulbarak Jamison Alexander, he was hit by four of the balls.

Alexander charges that inmates on the bottom tier of the prison’s Restricted Housing Unit were the targets of one of the prison’s deputy wardens.

“I was hit four times with the pepper paint balls, two times in the head, one time in my knee and one time in my hand,” according to the lawsuit filed late last week by Alexander.

Immediately after the barrage, he asked to see a nurse.

Alexander reported that he was not only in pain, but was having a hard time breathing.

One of the corrections officers on duty during that Nov. 20 incident stated he would summon a nurse.

“The nurse never came to the RHU, leaving me in pain and shortness of breathing,” Alexander stated in his federal petition filed with the U.S. District Court in Johnstown.

Alexander reported at the time of the incident he was “not violating any prison rule or acting disruptively” when the deputy warden began shooting the paint balls.

He argues that the deputy used “excessive force” against him.

The inmate maintains in his lawsuit the use of paint balls against him violated the Eighth Amendment of the constitution prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment to those who are confined.

He claims his treatment while in the Blair County Prison has caused him irreparable injury.

Alexander is seeking in excess of $50,000 in money damages.

Magistrate Judge Patricia L. Dodge, who presides in Pittsburgh, will conduct the initial review of the Alexander lawsuit.

According to state court records, Alexander entered Blair County Prison in May on charges of possession with intent to deliver and possession of drug paraphernalia.

The records also show that he is awaiting trial on five other sets of charges that include assaults against corrections officers.

For instance, in May, Hollidaysburg police were called to the prison after Alexander resisted being placed in handcuffs by officers assigned to move him to a different cell.

He is alleged to have bitten one officer, and struck another officer on the right eye and right ear, according to the affidavit of probable cause.

In June, it is alleged he tossed a cup of excrement on officers.

He was charged with three counts of harassment by a prisoner.