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February 20, 2005
Record-Eagle/Lara NeelSarah Clark, 17, reads a letter she wrote to her mother about her experiences in Grand Traverse County Jail. She says she had insects in her mattress, black mold in her cell and wasn’t given her medications on time. Female inmates claim cells are moldy, infestedOfficers reject claims, say facility passed reviewByRecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - Sarah Clark spent her sentence in Grand Traverse County's jail separated from her family, and, she said, plagued by pain due to medication mix-ups and health problems caused by unsanitary conditions. "It was one of the worst experiences of my life," Clark said of the 135 days she spent in jail last year after she pleaded guilty to felonious driving. "It is hard enough to know you have to be there, but no one should have to deal with those conditions," she said. Clark is among a group of former inmates and their families who've expressed concerns - and in some cases filed lawsuits - over jail health care practices and allegedly unsanitary conditions. County Sheriff Scott Fewins, however, rejects the complaints as false and touts a recent jail review conducted by the state that gave the facility a clean bill of health. LACK OF MEDICATION, WRONG DOSAGES ALLEGED Clark, a student at Northwestern Michigan College, is on several medications - many for pain - because of a 2000 car crash that left her with a broken back and sternum. She alleged jail officials did not provide her medication on a regular basis or in the right dosages during her stay there. "(Medications) are supposed to be there at 8:30 a.m., but we had classes at 9," she said. "If I didn't have meds before class, they wouldn't give them to me afterward, even though I was in pain. "I had to 'kite out,' which is when you put a note out the door, for my pain medications so they'd remember. Sometimes they would lose it or just not give it to me. Sometimes it would take two, three, sometimes five hours to get to you," she said. Grand Traverse County Sheriff's Lt. Dave Spranger, assistant jail administrator, said the facility received a 100 percent rating from the Michigan Department of Corrections the last three years, a score that includes an array of physical inspections of jail facilities across the state. "As far as the medical conditions go at the jail, they are on top of the game," he said. "We run medical reviews every single day and see people with requests promptly. ... (jail employees) take the health of our inmates very seriously." Grand Traverse County faces a lawsuit filed by the estate of Christopher Morden, an Elk Rapids man who his family alleged was over-medicated by jail medical personnel. Morden collapsed and died April 1, 2002, while awaiting trial on home invasion and concealing a stolen firearm charges. The lawsuit contends that three months before he was arrested, Morden was prescribed anti-depressant and anti-psychotic medications, which allegedly were mismanaged by jail medical workers after his incarceration. The county also is a defendant in a federal lawsuit filed in October by Traverse City resident Amy Lynn Ford. Ford, jailed for violating probation, alleges she informed jail employees in 2002 that she had epilepsy and took medication to prevent seizures, but jail employees failed to ensure her safety or secure her medications before putting her in a cell, she said. It was there Ford said she suffered a grand mal seizure while sleeping in a top bunk and fell to the ground, fracturing her right hip and right clavicle. Fewins disputes the allegations of poor medical attention provided to inmates. "I don't think (medications) is an issue at all at the jail," he said. BED BUGS BITE? Clark also complained of bites on her legs from "bed bugs" that infested jail mattresses. She said jail personnel had female inmates clean off the mattresses with glass cleaner, which wasn't effective. "I told everybody I possibly could and filed grievances," she said. "I told every guard that came to the door ... they weren't surprised. "Eventually, I was put in isolation because I was complaining about the bugs so much. I was not happy." Clark also said black mold grew in the cell she shared with a handful of other female inmates. She said the mold was so bad it sickened her and the other inmates. When jail officials were notified, Clark said the inmates were given cleaning supplies and told to clean the mold themselves. "We were throwing-up sick," said Clark, who said she sent samples of bugs and mold to her mother while she was jailed. "Headaches were a big thing, along with stuffy noses. I don't think it was ventilated very well." Schatzie Grundel, 31, has been in and out of the Grand Traverse jail since 1991, mostly for failure to pay child support. Jail conditions worsened over that time, she said. "There is a lot of black mold on some of the walls that comes from people taking the showers and people not cleaning properly with the disinfectant," she said. "There is mold in just about every cell, and it mostly sticks right above the shower area where the steam goes up to the vents." But Spranger said the jail is constantly cleaned, including sanitizing and re-covering of mattresses. New mattresses also are ordered to replace damaged ones. "The cleaning is done every day and officers are inspecting all the time," Spranger said. "We just try and stay on top of it and every complaint we address promptly. "Although it is an older facility, it is a clean facility. Just because it is old, it doesn't have to be dirty," he said. Grundel said she also had problems with insect infestation, sometimes receiving bites on her head. "I would say with the general care and other things, things are getting worse," said Grundel, who alleges she also saw other inmates with other medical problems who didn't receive proper care. "100-PERCENT COMPLIANCE" "(Inmates) would rather sit there and complain than clean up after themselves," countered Fewins, who said there are no mold or infestation problems at the jail. "I had the whole jail looked at. We just had another 100 percent compliance, and they would not give you that if you had mold in the jail. As far as infestation, there is nothing like that at all," he said. Grundel said most of the women she knows from the facility bemoan conditions and treatment, especially when compared to other jails. "People would rather be in other jails than in Grand Traverse," Grundel said. "(At the other jails) they treat you better and talk to you like you're not an idiot and they try to make conditions good. There were several girls that didn't want to come back after being at the other jails."
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