Whitley man’s latest lawsuit accuses Clay Jailer of not giving him enough Kool-Aid

A Whitley County man who has filed a bevy of lawsuits against elected officials and jail employees in three counties is at it again, this time claiming, among other things, he hasn’t been given enough Kool-Aid to drink.

Twice-convicted sex offender Willie Lowe, 42, filed his latest federal lawsuit March 22 in U.S. District Court in London. In it he claims that Clay County Jailer Kenny Price, Corrections Officer R. Bishop, a guard who is only identified as "Ronnie," and Deputy Jailer Bill Ed have made smart remarks to him and others. He said one remark included a joke about "rape."
Lowe also claims Price "lets his officers discriminate against inmates" because most are only allowed one cup of coffee or "one cup of state Kool-Aid."

"If the officer working knows or likes people they let them get two to six cups," Lowe writes. "I told Kenny Price this cause I was turned away from the Kool-Aid one month ago and it still goes on today 3-18-10. Since I was turned away from juice by Ronnie and told on him all the other ones now treat me bad and have attitudes toward me."

Lowe claims the defendants have violated his rights to not have other inmates know what charges he is being jailed for and "the right to have state funded drinks and being treated fairly, same as other inmates." He said he’s filed complaints through the jails administrative process regarding the "smart comments" and lack of coffee and Kool-Aid, but is only advised to quit complaining.

Price, a first-term Jailer who took office in Jan. 2007, said Tuesday he was unaware of the lawsuit, but was surprised it had been filed.

"No, we don’t discriminate against anybody at all," he said. "If I had thought that an extra cup of Kool-Aid would have kept us out of a lawsuit I would have given it to him."

Lowe entered an Alford plea to charges of first-degree rape and failure to comply with the sex offender registry last Sept. in front of Whitley Circuit Judge Dan Ballou, whom was also sued, narrowly avoiding trial. The deal came with a 14-year-prison sentence and a promise that a persistent felony offender charge against him would be dropped.

An Alford plea means that Lowe acknowledges that prosecutors likely had enough evidence to convict him, but that he still maintains his innocence.

Lowe allegedly forcibly raped a local woman near Corbin after she asked him for a ride home on Feb. 5, 2008. The two were apparently old acquaintances, police said.

The latest lawsuit is the seventh he’s filed in federal court against various officials since the beginning of 2009, and the second against the Clay County Detention Center. In January, he accused CCDC officials of negligence after he supposedly slipped and fell at the facility and hit his head on the floor. He claims he was denied medical attention.

Price said he wasn’t aware of that lawsuit either and that the two civil actions by Lowe are the only two brought against anyone at the jail during his four-year term.

Last September, he accused Ballou, his court-appointed attorney Lowell W. Lundy and Commonwealth’s Attorney Allen Trimble of conspiring against him to force a plea deal in his case.

In May 2009, he sued Ballou and Trimble and former Corbin Police Investigator Tim Helton, claiming Ballou was holding a grudge against him and that Trimble and Helton used someone else’s DNA to link him to the rape. He also sued the victim of the rape saying she lied about the incident.

Last August he accused Whitley County Jailer Ken Mobley and three deputy jailers of mental and physical abuse.
He was moved to the McCreary County Detention Center and he filed a lawsuit against the Jailer and a jail inspector, claiming the jail was unsafe and overcrowded.

Four of Lowe’s seven cases have already been judged in favor of those he is suing and dismissed. Several contain notes that they were filed in "bad faith" and that appeals would be frowned upon.