Police Complaint Center

A civil rights complaint and a lawsuit filed Wednesday by inmates raise questions about medical care, safety and the grievance system at a privately run Marion County jail.

The allegations about Jail II have come less than a year after the county closed more than 30 years of court oversight because of crowding at the main lockup. Jail II -- touted by officials as one of the best jails in Indiana -- opened in 1997 to relieve pressure on the Marion County Jail.


But this week, an advocacy group that has collected written complaints from about a dozen inmates asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the facility.

And the class-action lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis on behalf of five inmates, seeks a judge's order to cancel the county's contract with Corrections Corporation of America.

The lawsuit and a letter sent to the Justice Department's civil rights division outline claims that Jail II inmates have been denied medication, given incorrect dosages or given the wrong prescription drugs. Some have high blood pressure, others more serious illnesses.

"Some of those guys have psychological problems," said Leslie Sourwine, administrative services director for the Police Complaint Center, which sent the letter to the Justice Department. "It's not good for them, and it's not good for the guys around them."

Sourwine provided more than 40 pages of complaints, with inmates' names redacted. One wrote that he is diagnosed as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and bipolar disorder but receives his medication too infrequently, making him "afraid of incidents" while his illnesses are improperly medicated.

A spokeswoman for Jail II and an attorney for Sheriff Frank Anderson declined to address the allegations, but they pointed to several audits that make the facility the only local jail in the state accredited by the American Correctional Association. They said those standards -- set for facility conditions and all aspects of its operation -- exceed legal minimums.

Next week, the American Correctional Association is set to begin a new audit of Jail II, 730 E. Washington St.

Sourwine and Indianapolis attorney Paul Ogden, who filed the lawsuit, said Corrections Corporation of America employees have violated inmates' constitutional rights.

The suit, which names Nashville, Tenn.-based CCA and Anderson, follows another filed by Ogden in January on behalf of jail nurses that included claims of mishandled medication. In court filings, CCA has denied the allegations.

"We take any complaint very seriously," said Kevin Murray, Anderson's attorney.

But he said the sheriff's staff has confidence in CCA's operation and monitors it closely. The company is paid $40.90 a day per inmate, and its contract to run Jail II was renewed last year through 2017.

Other claims raised by the new lawsuit and the letter focus on health, including insufficient food and mold on floors, vents and walls; and safety, including shaving razors left in open wastebaskets, broken security cameras and a shortage of radios for staff.

Grievances often are lost, returned to the inmates or torn up, they say.

Sourwine's nonprofit group, based in Washington, D.C., investigates police agencies for abuse, but she said this is its first foray into a jail complaint.

She was investigating an inmate's allegations of mistreatment by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, she said, when she began hearing the Jail II complaints. Ogden's nurse lawsuit accelerated the pace.

"The way I look at it, the people in there have not been convicted," Sourwine said. "They don't deserve this."

Ogden's lawsuit seeks a judge's order to correct violations of law and assess punitive damages against CCA.

It's unclear whether the Justice Department will begin an investigation. As policy, it does not offer comment on investigations or tips it has received.

Jail II, which housed 1,043 inmates Wednesday, is a medium-security facility. Inmates facing the most serious charges stay in the main lockup.

The lawsuit's plaintiffs -- Alan Kress, Billy Ford, Eric Staggs, Timothy Patrick Treacy and Randy Carr -- face pending charges including forgery, theft, drunken driving and drug dealing.

During a tour Wednesday through Jail II's polished concrete hallways, quality assurance manager Heidi Marshall allowed access to all four floors, including dorm-style areas, cellblocks and a segregation unit. She asked that visitors not speak with inmates or photograph faces.

Inmates on a fourth-floor unit pointed to the bathroom, where a toilet was wrapped in plastic. Otherwise, hallways and units appeared clean.

About a dozen inmates were in a waiting area in the medical services unit where new inmates are screened for medication needs.

"Every inmate that is brought into the facility, they have a comprehensive mental health and physical health screening within 14 days," said Tim Little, the health services administrator. But he said the average stay is 17 days.

The county faced federal scrutiny for decades over persistent problems with jail crowding and other issues. Last year, U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker ended a consent decree in effect since 1972 in a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana.

Murray said jail officials are still working to improve the main lockup, which has a slightly larger capacity than Jail II, to earn American Correctional Association accreditation.