An inmate who lost his leg while incarcerated at a rural prison in southern Colorado last year was denied adequate medical care for days, a new lawsuit alleges.
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Paul Knuth first alerted employees at the Bent County Correctional Facility in Las Animas to “debilitating” pain in his right foot on June 23, 2025, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. But Knuth wasn’t sent to the hospital for four days — at which point doctors had to amputate his leg to save his life, the lawsuit alleges.
Knuth declared a medical emergency three times over three separate days before receiving treatment at a hospital, according to the lawsuit.
The nurse who evaluated Knuth the first two times accused him of trying to fake an illness to get off work and told Knuth that his lab results were normal, despite tests pointing to an infection, the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit alleges negligence and violations of Knuth’s Eighth Amendment rights from that nurse; a prison physician assistant involved in Knuth’s care; CoreCivic, which operates the private prison; and the Bent County Board of Commissioners, which chose to subcontract with CoreCivic.
Once at the hospital, doctors diagnosed Knuth with MRSA, which can quickly become life-threatening or fatal when left untreated, according to the lawsuit.
“After additional surgeries and several weeks of grueling rehab, Mr. Knuth was returned to prison with a permanent disability, caused by an eminently treatable infection that was ignored until it nearly killed him,” the lawsuit stated.
MRSA can spread quickly in crowded and unsanitary living spaces, like jails and prisons, the lawsuit alleges. It’s transmitted by contact with infected people or things that they’ve touched, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Medical staff at the prison failed to order antibiotics or rapid-screening tests for MRSA, despite Knuth’s “obviously serious and escalating symptoms of infection,” the lawsuit alleges. They cut corners and tried to save time because of CoreCivic’s policies and practices, which the lawsuit calls “deliberately indifferent to inmates’ serious medical needs.”
CoreCivic understaffs its detention facilities and often fails to respond quickly to medical emergencies or monitor inmates’ ongoing illnesses, the lawsuit alleges. Its policies directly contributed to Knuth’s pain and loss of limb, the lawsuit claims.
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In 2025, the year Knuth was injured, Bent County was assessed more than $162,000 in damages for CoreCivic’s staffing deficiencies at the correctional facility, the lawsuit alleges. That number was “adjusted” down from an initial assessment of more than $340,000.
The county was aware of the prison’s chronic understaffing and failed to act or terminate its contract with CoreCivic, the lawsuit claims.
The Bent County Board of Commissioners did not respond Wednesday to requests for comment.
One of the prison’s nurses previously threatened to write up a patient for seeking medical care after getting cut on the neck in the kitchen, telling him “we are short staffed as it is!” according to the lawsuit.
The private prison company is also under fire for the deaths of Charles Gates and Michael Fisher, who were killed on June 6 inside the Bent County Correctional Facility. Gates’ mother said her son’s death was the result of a “profound failure” by CoreCivic.
That lawsuit, filed separately in Denver District Court, also alleges that the prison failed to maintain adequate staffing and took too long to call for medical aid.
Ryan Gustin, a spokesperson for CoreCivic, said the company does not comment on specific allegations in pending litigation. The company’s facilities, including the Bent County prison, “operate pursuant to contractual requirements, applicable laws and regulations, correctional standards, and oversight by our government partners,” he said.
“The health, safety, and well-being of the individuals entrusted to our care is a top priority,” Gustin said in a statement. “…We take all concerns regarding the care and treatment of those in our facilities seriously and review such matters through appropriate processes.”
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This is a developing story and may be updated.
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