A Blair County inmate who was injured as a bystander to a brawl in the prison gymnasium cannot sue the prison, the prison’s medical provider, the warden or other supervisory personnel, according to an opinion issued Wednesday by a federal magistrate judge who presides in the U.S. District Court in Johns­town.

The inmate, Jean-Taft Kelley Gray, 45, filed a federal complaint earlier this month stating that on July 24 he was among 30-plus inmates being housed in the gym when three inmates began fighting with each other.

The fight resulted in a prison on-call alarm which brought several officers to the gym in an effort to restore order.

During the fray, one of the officers fell on Gray, an on-looker, causing the little finger on his left hand to “snap.”

In response to his injury he claims he was given ice and a Z-pack by personnel of PrimeCare Medical of Harrisburg, the company that provides medical care for the inmates.

In the followup to his injury, a doctor recommended he see a specialist for a possible injury to a tendon in his left hand.

He complained in his lawsuit that his hand is becoming more dysfunctional as time goes on.

His response was to file a civil rights lawsuit in the federal court in Johnstown.

He names as defendants: the prison, the warden, a top supervisor and PrimeCare.

In his lawsuit, Gray complains that the prison is overcrowded and understaffed.

Magistrate Judge Keith A. Pesto, however, has recommended dismissal of the lawsuit because Gray fails to state a valid legal claim under the Prison Litigation Reform Act.

His complaint must state facts that “permit the inference that each defendant he names caused the harm he alleges,” Pesto explained.

Pesto points out Gray’s lawsuit does not do that.

For instance, the magistrate judge explained the prison is a building, not a legal entity that can be sued.

The warden and a supervisor are linked to the incident because they are responsible for maintaining order in the institution, he continued.

Pesto summarized Gray’s position, noting that he believes prison authorities are responsible for his injury because the prison is overcrowded and understaffed, which is the reason why the fight occurred in the first place.

Pesto ruled that under the law, authorities are liable for the deprivation of civil rights caused by their own illegal customs and policies but “are not liable for their employees’ actions.”

Gray does not name as defendants any officers involved in his injury.

Pesto maintained the officer who allegedly fell on Gray while breaking up the fight did not do so intentionally.

“There is no federal claim for negligence because the Due Process Clause is simply not implicated by a negligent act of an official causing unintended loss of or injury to life, liberty, or property,” according to Pesto.

Gray, he emphasized, alleges “no culpable act” by any of the medical care providers.

The inmate also does not not charge anyone with being “deliberately indifferent” toward his injury, Pesto said.

“Gray’s complaint does not show an entitlement to relief,” Pesto concluded.

Gay’s lawsuit, he summed up, is based on a “but for” line of reasoning — but for the prison overpopulation and understaffing Gray would not have been injured.

That line of thinking cannot establish a basis for a federal lawsuit, Pesto outlined in his opinion.

Gray has 14 days to respond to Pesto’s recommendation.

He is in prison awaiting trial on two sets of charges relating to alleged drug and firearms violations.