NATCHEZ — Corrections Corporation of America told a federal judge earlier this week the lawsuit alleging CCA is responsible for a correctional officer’s death in a May 2012 prison riot doesn’t hold up to legal scrutiny.

The family of Catlin Carithers, 24, who died May 20, 2012, after being assaulted in a seven-hour prison riot at Adams County Correctional Center, filed the lawsuit against CCA in federal court in May.

While CCA had previously filed a brief motion to dismiss the lawsuit, the defendants filed a 10-page memorandum with the western division of the U.S. District Court’s Southern District of Mississippi this week expanding their argument as to why the case should not move forward. The memorandum states that the company disputes any allegations of a breach of duty on its part.

In the response, the company argues in part that because Carithers’ death falls under the Mississippi Worker’s Compensation Act because a third person or persons — in this case, inmates — killed him because of his employment with CCA.

While the plaintiffs have claimed that the MWCA does not apply because CCA had a “duty to control” the inmates, the company responded that that duty in and of itself does not render the provision inapplicable and allowing a civil action against the company would be entitling the plaintiffs to double recovery.

The lawsuit against CCA alleges that in order to increase profits, the company maintained inadequate staffing, under equipped the facility and employees, and failed to properly train employees, as well as treating inmates “inhumanely” and — while knowing that inmates wanted to harm Carithers specifically — placed him in danger regardless of that fact.

The company responded that it was “an overstatement” to allege CCA knew inmates were going to harm Carithers and was warned they would harm him, and even if it could be inferred the company was aware of the risk to Carithers, it could not prove an actual intent to harm him.

“To find that Defendants acted with an ‘actual intent to injure’ Carithers, one would have to believe that they intentionally understaffed, underequipped and undertrained their employees so that the inmates would injure their employees,” the company responded in writing. “Such a diabolical scheme is not plausible.”

The company likewise responded that it cannot be held liable for the assault and battery on Carithers by inmates by cause-and-effect of “creating inhumane conditions for the inmates, and a dangerous work environment for its employees.”

The lawsuit against CCA likewise claims that the company fraudulently concealed from Carithers the fact that he was on a “hit list” compiled by disgruntled inmates, and that he would not have entered the prison on the day of the riot had he known he was on the list.

“It is also entirely speculative that Carithers was killed by the same inmates who created the ‘hit list,’” the company responded in court filings. “Fraudulent concealment ‘must be pleaded with particularity and may not be inferred or presumed.’”

The response likewise states, “There are no facts from which it could be inferred that Carithers — a senior correctional officer who was called in to help quell a disturbance at the facility he worked at — would not report simply because an inmate informant mentioned he was on a ‘hit list.’”

ACCC is a 2,567-bed prison that is privately owned by CCA and operates on a contract from the federal bureau of prisons. It opened in 2009, and  is located on U.S. 84 east of Natchez.