[image-1]Two inmates were treated for suspected drug overdoses at the Cuyahoga County jail over the weekend, a county spokesperson confirmed yesterday, and investigations are underway on four assaults on corrections officers in the past week.
Such safety concerns are not a surprise to officers working in the facility, which has of late been the subject of a variety of troubling headlines. Two officers have spoken out publicly on Facebook about a variety of issues including understaffing (one officer supervising two pods/96 inmates at a time) and faulty doors in Jail II that inmates can unlock with spoons or magazines. Despite protestations from the county that those doors have been fixed, officers have filed grievances in recent weeks through their union arguing that the doors in fact have not been fixed and citing as evidence multiple incidents in which inmates have unlocked their doors during lockdown since December.
Further evidence that the officers are right and the county is full of it: An inmate popped a cell door last night in the 7A pod of Jail II.
Assistant warden Eric Ivey is well aware of that. He was at the facility yesterday evening and has taken to working a second-shift night schedule due to the recent string of safety and staffing incidents, a county spokesperson confirmed to Scene yesterday, though the county did add that Ivey typically works more than 40 hours a week and maintains a flexible schedule.
Still, the fact that safety issues and violent assaults have led him to alter his schedule to be present in the evening, weeks after jail officials instituted a policy of assigning SRT (Special Response Team) officers to floors in the troubled Jail II facility, indicates the severity of the problem.
The union also recently filed a grievance suggesting that the general public — school tours, grand jury visits, social workers — should not be allowed in the facility given recent safety issues.
We’d relish the opportunity to ask Warden Ivey about that and other things happening in his jail but a county spokesperson declined, after repeated requests by Scene, to make Ivey or Associate Warden Victor McArthur available for an interview.
For his part, the county’s director of regional corrections Ken Mills will be doing an interview with Fox 8’s Ed Gallek today. We also have a request in to speak with him. Someone, after all, should answer questions at this point, and that should probably be someone in charge of the jail, not a spokesperson sitting in an office at county headquarters.
This article appears in Jan 18-24, 2017.
Armond Budish and his staff – along with every county council member – need to start taking work shifts inside this joint. After a few days, maybe – maybe – they will wake up and realize this powder keg is ready to explode.
I find it Ironic that Associate Warden Eric Ivey or Regional Director Ken Mills have been ducking the media. I understand that Mils will finally be making a statement to the media. It’s going to be interesting to hear his spin on life safety of his officers and the custodial care and safety of the inmates. The double pod practice has always been a dangerous practice and method of cutting cost. Let’s see what he says.
Like to see them actually fix the problem instead of trying to sugar coat it cause they’re just trying to be cheap asses and put people’s lives at risk. Fix it right the first time and you won’t have an issue.
Just pathetic. It appears that the elected folks have no concern for the direct and immediate safety of the officers nor the prisoners. While “Rome” burns the County Executive and Council sit and fiddle away. At some point, the voters within the county will awaken to find one of two things. One, the county is in ruins, broke and burning. Two, the county could become a pristine safe place to reside. Right now and at this moment, number one is well under way.
Everyone needs to learn and begin to start voting intellectually and not emotionally. Stop voting for these clowns solely based upon their name, their political party, their gender or their culture. Start looking and reviewing their past history. If we continue to vote as we have the ashes will just smolder.