A gay burglary convict says he was sold for 18 months as a sex slave in prison and repeatedly raped while Texas prison officials allegedly ignored his pleas for help.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued on Roderick Johnson's behalf in 2002. Today, trial of that lawsuit begins with jury selection in federal court in Wichita Falls.
Johnson was a Navy veteran who was sent to the Allred Unit near Wichita Falls in 2000 after violating probation from a 10-year 1992 sentence in 1992 for burglarizing an East Texas house. He was released from prison in 2003.

Now, he seeks unspecified damages against seven Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials.

Last year, the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans dropped eight of the 15 original defendants in the lawsuit -- including the TDCJ executive director and the prison's senior warden. But the court ruled that seven other officials could be sued for discrimination based on sexual orientation.