WOODBURY, NJ - A fifth lawsuit filed against the county claims that a former inmate of the Gloucester County Jail became infected with staph while incarcerated there.

Brantley Owens of Glassboro allegedly began "exhibiting signs and symptoms of an infection" caused by staphylococcus aureus bacteria shortly after his incarceration in August 2004, according to the complaint filed in Superior Court.

Owens claims that jail officials knew of other cases of the often contagious and drug-resistant skin infection and failed to notify inmates and put policies in place to minimize or prevent exposure, according to the suit.

Owens' suit is the fifth lodged against the county concerning staph infection -- one officer and two former inmates previously filed individual suits, and last month five people, corrections officers and their spouses, filed a joint suit.

The most recent claim names the county, county freeholders, the county department of corrections, the county Sheriff's Department, Prison Health Services, Inc., former jail warden John Tevoli and former corrections director W. Stanley Nunn.

County spokeswoman Debra Sellitto declined comment because the matter is in litigation.

Owens' Attorney Scott McKinley, of the firm Hoffman and DiMuzio, has filed three other lawsuits on behalf of two former inmates as well as a corrections officer who claim they contracted staph while at the jail.