Prison Fight Club: Inmates in St. Louis accuse prison guards of forcing them to fight, report says

(CBS) ST. LOUIS - More inmates in St. Louis are coming forward to say they were goaded into fighting each other for the amusement of prison guards, CBS St. Louis reports.

Almost a year after an initial lawsuit was filed, there are eight inmates and former inmates of Medium Security Institution on Hall St. named as plaintiffs in the suit and 30 others seeking to join, according to the man representing the inmates, attorney Daniel Brown.

"Individuals who were put in solitary confinement were not supposed to have contact with any other inmate but what was happening was the guards were actually taking inmates out of the cells, placing them in cells with other inmates, and forcing them to fight each other," he said, according to the station.

The city has since filed a response to the lawsuit, denying the allegations.

"Simply, they went through the lawsuit and said each of the things we alleged did not occur," Brown says. "We know that that is not true of course because we got the video and at the end of the day, once jurors see that video, I think they'll be with us."

According to Brown, surveillance video shows before-and-after evidence of the fights with inmates being led into a cell looking fine and then coming out beaten and bruised, the station reports.

A judge must decide whether to grant class status for the lawsuit before the list of inmates who have recently come forward can join the original eight plaintiffs.

A trial date has not been scheduled.