PORTLAND (AP) — A Maine prison inmate who was pepper-sprayed while restrained and then not allowed to wash his face for more than 20 minutes has sued the guard who sprayed him.

Paul Schlosser III, serving a seven-year sentence for robbery at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham, filed suit this week against the guard, who was suspended for 30 days after the June 2012 incident.

Schlosser’s mother, Laura Schlosser, told the Portland Press Herald (http://bit.ly/1kakx08 ) her son was suing the guard, not the state agency, because a state law bars lawsuits against the prison if inmates do not file a complaint within a certain period of time.

A spokesman for prisons Commissioner Joseph Fitzpatrick said he was unaware of the suit.

Schlosser was sprayed after spitting at the face of an officer.