The lawsuit filed recently in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque says Michael Faziani, 57, was thrown in a Sierra County solitary confinement jail cell for days after getting arrested on misdemeanor charges for a minor accident in a McDonald’s parking pot.

Guards ignored his request for a shower and his cell got so squalid another inmate had to clean it, according to court papers filed last month.

“Due to the toxic effects of solitary confinement (Faziani) lost the ability to care of his own hygiene,” the lawsuit said.

Documents also said the Columbia, Tennessee man lost 22 pounds in 18 days and often begged for help. He was also denied medication for his chronic back pain, court papers said.

Sierra County officials did not immediately return emails from The Associated Press.

Faziani is seeking an unspecified amount for punitive and compensatory damages.

Matthew Coyte, Faziani’s lawyer and an Albuquerque attorney involved in the New Mexico cases, said the state’s county jails continue to be where most egregious solitary confinement cases are found.

“The practice of placing someone in solitary is done so professionally in the prisons they got it down to a science or an art,” said Coyte….