PHOENIX, AZ - A Phoenix man is suing "Dateline NBC" and the Arizona Department of Corrections, claiming he was assaulted while serving time in prison in Tucson after being called a "snitch" in one of the television show's episodes.

Thomas Morgan was serving time in prison in June 1999 on theft charges when a cellmate told him he wanted to kill Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, according to the lawsuit. Morgan, 41, told the prison pastor about the alleged plot and testified against fellow inmate James Saville at his trial for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

In the lawsuit, although Morgan was placed in protective custody until his release from prison in 2002, he was not afforded protective custody when he landed back in prison in Tucson in 2004, according to a Tucson prison official.

"Dateline NBC" aired a show about the Saville case March 11, 2005. The lawsuit claims Morgan was labeled a snitch and that he had received favors as a result.

Morgan was attacked by six to eight other inmates within 30 minutes of the show's airing, said Morgan's attorney, G. David DeLozier.

Both NBC and the Department of Corrections declined comment. Several of Morgan's ribs were cracked and he lost consciousness as the result of a brain concussion, he said.

Morgan, who has since been placed in protective custody, continues to suffer from "severe physical, emotional, and psychological distress as a result" of the attack, the lawsuit states.

Bob Huhn, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections, declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying officials had not seen it.

Morgan is seeking unspecified damages for negligence, aiding and abetting tortuous conduct, intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation and violation of civil rights.

Authorities said Saville made threats against Arpaio a week before his release from a state prison, then showed an undercover sheriff's detective where to place a pipe bomb under Arpaio's car.

Saville was acquitted by a jury in June 2003. His lawyers had claimed that his client was set up by the undercover officer posing as an Irish mafia hitman as part of a publicity ploy for Arpaio - a charge that was denied by the sheriff's office.

He has since filed a lawsuit against Arpaio and Maricopa County on claims of false arrest and imprisonment, abuse of process, violation of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress, according to court records.