CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cuyahoga County’s former jail director helped block the hiring of “necessary nursing staff” at the jail days before the first of eight inmates died, county prosecutors said in an indictment released to the public Friday afternoon.

Ken Mills, who resigned in November ahead of a scathing U.S. Marshals report that found inadequate healthcare at the jail, later lied to federal and county investigators about his communications with a “high-level Cuyahoga County official," according to county prosecutors. The prosecutors declined to identify that official in what is an ongoing investigation that involves county prosecutors and the FBI.

Mills was indicted on charges that accuse him of that lie, as well as lying to Cuyahoga County Council about his role in blocking the hiring of nurses at the jail, where short staffing was a chronic, on-going issue. He did not respond to a request for comment. He’s also charged with an assortment of misdemeanors and felonies including tampering with records and telecommunications fraud. He’s expected to make his first court appearance Feb. 4.

Friday’s indictment illustrates how the investigation into county corruption, which initially focused on the county’s IT department, broadened as outrage deepened over the deaths of seven inmates at the jail where Mills presided.

The Meeting

Prosecutors say Mills lied during a contentious Cuyahoga County Council committee meeting on May 22 where a now-former jail medical director offered a dire picture of health care operations at the jail. The first inmate died less than a month later, on June 10, followed by seven others in the months that followed, including one that happened Dec. 31, after Mills had resigned.

The meeting was called after an emergency request by Mills to get more nurses at the county’s jails. Council members wanted to know why such a critical issue involving the safety of inmates was not addressed sooner.

County jail nurses made, and continue to make, less than their peers at hospitals in Cleveland. The discussion at the meeting centered on why wages were so low, and what jail officials were doing to increase pay to better attract and retain enough registered nurses and licensed practical nurses to take care of inmates.

Mills said during the meeting that the county had talked for “quite a while” about trying to find a way to raise the nurses’ wages.

Committee Chair Michael Gallagher specifically asked Mills who blocked a wage increase: “What was the roadblock? Or more directly, who was the roadblock? And if you don’t tell me who the roadblock is, or what the roadblock is, then you’re the roadblock. Now who is it?”

Mills replied: “I don’t know. I’m not sure.”

Shortly after, two high-ranking MetroHealth officials, including the jail’s director of ambulatory care, told council Mills was the obstructionist.

Gary Brack, who oversaw the medical care at the jail, said Mills blocked hiring and scaled back security in the jail’s medical unit.

MetroHealth Chief of Staff Jane Platten corroborated Brack’s accusations about Mills' interference in the hiring process for nurses. She said Mills denied a nurse staffing recommendation that MetroHealth submitted to the county for its satellite jail in Bedford Heights. She said the reason why it was denied was potentially due to budget concerns.

“Often [MetroHealth’s] recommendations have been denied because there’s a conversation of ‘Are we overstaffing a medical clinic for a correction facility?’” Platten said.

Platten also said MetroHealth made repeated requests to the county to provide more nurses at the downtown jail because there were chronic vacancies. She said those problems “would significantly decrease” if the county paid the nurses more. Nurses at the jail make roughly five dollars less than others who work at MetroHealth, she said.

“What the county decides from there is up to you — up to the county executive,” Platten said.

Brack’s and Platten’s testimony to council was one of the first public indications that problems existed with how inmates received medical treatment.

Budish went to MetroHealth CEO Dr. Akram Boutros the next day and personally demanded Brack be ousted from his position for his comments during the hearing.

Cuyahoga County Council President Dan Brady told Budish in a June 7 letter that council would provide any additional money needed to “ensure we are fairly compensating our medical unit and adequately staffing all of the jail facilities.”

In a letter to Brady, Budish said his administration “approved additional funds for staff and salaries.” But wages were never increased.

Cuyahoga County’s head of human resources Douglas Dykes, who was indicted Friday in a separate branch of the corruption investigation, told cleveland.com in a statement on Thursday that nurses at the county were getting a competitive, appropriate rate and “there was no staffing crisis” for nurses at the time.

Eight inmates have died since. The U.S. Marshals in November found that some of the jail’s inmates, including those with chronic and mental illnesses, were denied consistent and proper treatment.

Mills had zero jail experience

Mills spent a little over three years as jail director, a position created by former Cuyahoga County Executive Ed Fitzgerald that remained unfilled until 2015, after Budish became county executive. The position was designed, in part, to allow the county jail to take over jail services for other communities in Cuyahoga County.

Mills came from the U.S. Coast Guard, where he held several positions over the course of 27 years, retiring as the deputy sector commander of the Great Lakes region.

Cuyahoga County Executive Ed Fitzgerald hired Mills in 2014 for a different position — director of public safety — where he oversaw the county’s emergency management and administration of its law enforcement database. He made $120,000 per year in that position.

After Budish took office, he gave Mills the director of regional corrections job despite the fact that Mills had no prior experience running or working in jails. The move raised eyebrows as the original salary for the jail director position was advertised between $80,000 to $95,000. The pay for that position caused at least one experienced applicant to withdraw for consideration.

Budish set Mills' salary at $117,000 a year. Mills' hiring did not require the County Council’s confirmation. He was the only person offered the job. A Budish spokeswoman said at the time Mills’ experience in the Coast Guard was enough to warrant his hiring and the higher salary.

The posting required at least five years of experience administering a civilian-run correctional institution or an "equivalent combination of education, training and experience."

At least 14 of the candidates had substantial corrections experience, the applicants' resumes showed, including applicants who ran large county jails in Orlando and Pittsburgh as well as former wardens of federal prisons.