Gus Chan, The Plain Dealer

Don't Edit

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The seven inmates named as plaintiffs in Thursday’s lawsuit over inhumane conditions at the Cuyahoga County Jail say many issues the county claims to have fixed in the wake of a blistering report by the U.S. Marshal’s office have permeated at the jail as recently as this week.

The

released last month documented what the report called “inhumane” conditions at the overcrowded jail. The lawsuit insists that jail officials routinely violated the constitutional rights of inmates.

The county says it bought more than 1,000 food trays to replace old trays that the marshals said were smelly and oozed dirty, moldy water, and that shower curtains have been placed to all showers that inmates use.

But the lawsuit, filed by lawyers at the Friedman & Gilbert law firm in U.S. District Court in Cleveland Thursday, contains anecdotes from inmates who say the trays still smell of mildew and moldy shower curtains have yet to be replaced.

Two women who are among the plaintiffs claim in the lawsuit they were only given two sanitary pads at a time and the jail refused their requests for more, leaving many women to use washcloths and toilet paper in place of sanitary pads.

Don't Edit

Lynn Ischay, The Plain Dealer

Don't Edit

Tonya Clay

Don't Edit

Clay, 48, is being held as a pre-trial detainee in the jail since Sept. 13 on charges including attempted murder, felonious assault, aggravated robbery and domestic violence. Clay spent her first month in the jail sleeping on a mat on the floor in the common area of her jail pod because of overcrowding, the suit says.

She now stays in a one-person cell that houses two women, one who sleeps on a metal bunk, and another who sleeps on the floor, the suit says.

Clay told her attorneys that she regularly sees bugs swarming around the showers. Mold covers the walls of the showers and the cracks between the tiles, the suit says.

She’s spent most of her time at the jail on lockdown, and her pod was once on lockdown for two straight days, and they were only let out to pick up and return their food trays and laundry, the suit claims.

Jail staff only gave her two sanitary pads, and told her the help button in her cell was only to be used when someone was “dying,” the lawsuit says. As a result, whenever the cell was on lockdown, she and the other female inmates could not request more sanitary pads.

Clay, who also took medication for bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, said the jail staff refused to give her the same medication she was taking and prescribed her a different medication, the lawsuit says. She has asked several times to get an evaluation for new medication and, according to the lawsuit, has yet to see a medical professional.

Clay said she started eating food almost exclusively from the commissary because she thinks the food served by the jail is unacceptable. The jail once served her milk that was past the expiration date and meat that looked and tasted spoiled, or was freezer burned, the suit says.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Marvin Fong, The Plain Dealer

Don't Edit

Anthony Bonner

Don't Edit

Bonner, 39, has been housed in the jail as a pre-trial detainee since July. Bonner was sentenced to 30 days in the jail on Dec. 3 after he pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of public indecency in Cleveland Municipal Court.

Cuyahoga County prosecutors dismissed felony rape charges against Bonner on Tuesday.

Bonner told his attorneys that he and another man share a one-person cell, and inmates who share cells often create makeshift curtains out of bed sheets for privacy while the other is on the toilet. The jail also only gives an inmate one orange jail uniform and, whenever it is washed, the inmate has to sit in his underwear or completely naked until the uniform is returned.

Inmates in the jail do not receive pillows, the lawsuit said.

Most days, Bonner spent 22 hours confined to his cell due to lockdowns, the suit said. He also was placed in isolation for two weeks where his requests for mental health services went ignored. Jail staff served him oatmeal for breakfast and a bologna sandwich, bag of carrots, a piece of fruit and often-expired milk for lunch and dinner, the lawsuit said.

He was not allowed to use his commissary to buy more food, and was only given one book – a copy of the Holy Bible, the suit says.

Don't Edit

Lynn Ischay, The Plain Dealer

Don't Edit

James Martin

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Martin, 35, was housed in the jail from June through Thursday, when he was sentenced on charges of burglary and theft. Martin spent the first two months of his stint sleeping on the floor of a common room because the jail was so overcrowded there were no cells available, the suit says.

He and 18 other men shared a single toilet for the first month, the suit says.

Martin, who is Jewish, requested a yarmulke and access to a Rabbi and Jewish services, but the jail staff has either ignored or denied those requests, the lawsuit said. Martin said he believes his meals are Kosher, but he receives the same two meals every day and they are always cold, he said.

Each pod in the jail has two showers, meaning about 48 men have to share showers, the suit says. Because the jail is often on lockdown, the inmates are only allowed out of their cells for up to 20 minutes most days, so Martin often went several days without being able to shower because there is not enough time for every inmate to shower, the suit says.

When Martin did shower, the shower was riddled with insects and the curtain was covered in mold and soap scum, the suit says.

Martin, who is diagnosed with bipolar disorder, has not received any counseling and the jail staff has not responded to a request for a social worker to work with him, the lawsuit says. Martin has often wound up in restrictive housing, which the suit blames on the jail’s failure to properly treat his mental illness.

The lawsuit also says that, as of Wednesday, Martin said there are no new shower curtains and the food is served on trays that smell dirty and like old food, despite insisting from County officials that they have implemented such changes since the U.S. Marshals’ report was released.

Don't Edit

Former Cuyahoga County Corrections director Ken Mills, left, and Cuyahoga County Sheriff Clifford Pinkney (Cory Shaffer, cleveland.com)

Don't Edit

Georgette Patterson

Don't Edit

Patterson, 53, was sentenced to spend five-months in the jail in August. Lakewood Municipal Court Judge Patrick Carroll imposed the sentence after Patterson pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor drug possession charge. Six days later, a journal entry shows Patterson was instead placed into a diversion program at the request of the county’s Adult Probation Department “in order to reduce the crowded conditions at the Cuyahoga County Jail.”

Records show Patterson also had two pending misdemeanor theft cases in Rocky River Municipal Court, and she sent a letter to the court on Dec. 10 from the Cuyahoga County Jail.

When Patterson was booked into jail, she had food poisoning and was vomiting, but jail staff refused to treat her because they believed she was going through withdrawal, the lawsuit claims. She spent 12 hours in soiled clothes and sheets, and was then assigned to a mat on the floor, the suit claims.

A few days later she was taken to MetroHealth hospital with chest pains and diagnosed with hyponatremia, and received no follow-up medical care at the jail until nearly a month had passed, the suit says.

She also had Celiac Disease, but the jail refused to adjust her diet until November, when her loved ones called the jail on her behalf because Patterson suffered side effects and discomfort from the food she was being served, the suit claims.

Women in the jail are often forced to use washcloths or wads of toilet paper in place of sanitary pads if they use the two pads they are given, because corrections officers often tell them that no more pads are available, the suit claims. If women store up pads for future use when they need them and their cell is raided by officers on the jail’s special response team, the officers regularly throw away the extra pads, the suit claims.

Don't Edit

Lynn Ischay, The Plain Dealer

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Zachary Scruggs

Don't Edit

The lawsuit says Scruggs, 35, has been in the jail since March, but he has no pending cases in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. John O'Brien, a county spokesman, said Thursday that the jail had no record of anyone under that name ever being housed in their jail.

Attorneys at the law firm told cleveland.com on Thursday that they had met with Scruggs at the jail as recently as Tuesday. No one could explain why county officials were unable to find Scruggs in the system.

O'Brien said Friday morning that Scruggs's name was listed in the system and suggested there may have been a glitch on Thursday.

Every cell in the pod of the jail where Scruggs was being held had was a single-person cell that housed two inmates, forcing one man to sleep on the floor, the suit said. Scruggs had little access to the jail’s showers due to frequent lockdowns, witnessed bugs and moldy in the shower and said the trays the food is served on smell of mildew, the suit said.

Church services in the jail are often cancelled, so he and other inmates are unable to freely practice their religion, the suit said.

The jail only allows inmates to visit with their attorneys for 30 minutes, which denied Scruggs enough time to properly review evidence to assist in his defense, the suit claims.

Scruggs also accused special response team officers of intimidation during raids and weekly “shakedowns”

Don't Edit

Lynn Ischay, The Plain Dealer

Don't Edit

Kindell Smith

Don't Edit

Smith, 28, has been housed in the Cuyahoga County Jail since his June arrest on charges of aggravated robbery and felonious assault in an April drive-by shooting in Cleveland. His trial is set to begin in January.

Smith says the jail denied him breathing treatments for his asthma and refused to let him use a CPAP machine that his family gave the jail after his arrest. Smith filed a grievance over the jail’s CPAP denial, but he got no response, the suit says.

Smith also said staff at the jail put him in solitary conferment for 24 hours a day after he violated phone restrictions placed on him as part of his case. Corrections offices held back food from him during his time in confinement, the suit says. It does not say how long Smith was in confinement.

Smith also claims the officers in the jail threatened him with pepper spray and choked him.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Marvin Fong, The Plain Dealer

Don't Edit

Jovan Varner

Varner, 33, has been in jail since December 2017 on charges of attempted murder, felonious assault on a police officer, drug trafficking and other charges in two separate incidents.

Like the other men, Varner has been in a one-man pod with another inmate, the suit says. He has slept on the floor every night since his arrest, the lawsuit said.

The toilet in Varner’s cell was broken for three weeks and, when the jail staff didn’t fix it, a corrections officer told Varner to put a bag in the bowl to collect his waste, the suit said. Their cell smelled of urine and excrement, the suit said.

Varner said he has spotted mice near food in the jail’s kitchen, and said the trays smell of mildew and he has not seen a new tray in the jail.

Varner has not received a haircut for six months.

Jail staff confiscated Varner’s inhaler to treat his asthma when he was booked into the jail and has refused to give it back to him, the suit says.

The lawsuit says that the jail was on lockdown most of Thanksgiving and Varner could not call his family.