A man detained in the Jefferson County jail has filed suit against the sheriff’s office claiming pervasive black mold and overcrowding.

“We have 12 people in [an] at best 20′ x 20′ room,” wrote Jason Settles in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court on Jan. 21.

Settles alleged that an entire unit was confined to their beds for over 12 hours, and the black mold exists in “every shower.”

“They have tried to cover it up buy scrapping [sic] and painting over it but…I know that’s not how you get rid of black mold,” he wrote.

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to a request for comment. Black mold, or Stachybotrys chartarum, grows due to moisture. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes an as-yet-unproven association between black mold and illness in infants.

Earlier this week, the county released 47 detainees from jail due to overcrowding. It also cut the number of beds by more than 200, to 1,148. The Denver Post noted that the inmate reduction was due to limitations on county revenue from the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.

Settles, who identifies himself as a pretrial detainee and a “parole hold,” is asking for $10 million in damages, including for an unlawful restraint allegation.

“I have lost faith in the system,” Settles wrote. “I have lost my house, vehicles, missed Christmas, kids’ birthday, my youngest kid believes that Santa by-passed our house this year cause he was bad!”

Sheriff Jeff Shrader told CBS4 that “Releasing inmates early, before they have completed their full sentence, is…not the message we want to send to criminals.”