Complaint Review: Franklin County Sheriff

Franklin County Sheriff Jim Karnes who recently passed along with new sheriff Zach Scott turn their heads while inmates are being BRUTALLY ABUSED.





The Department of Justice along with the Ohio Legal Rights services just settled a suit with the department for excessive use of tazers.







The most recent suit involves an inmate who was in on a Civil Case, thrown in the hole while being refused for medical treatment, them when it overflowed with raw sewage massively was taunted by guards then move to a different cell where he was refused a shower for days after begging for one.



Immagine the smell- and burning skin from dry urine and feces on your body. Let alone the possability of major healty risks......





The Franklin County Jail abuses inmates daily, here are just a few of the ways...





1- Many not supplied with basic hgiene products like tooth brushes,tooth paste and soap.

2- Refusal of medical attention when desperately needed

3- Many dorms the cold water is turned off so only scalding water is available

4- The recreation time is supposed to be once or twice a week. Many inmates never see any recreational time...

5- Telephone calls refused

6- Daily overflows of raw sewage and not cleaned up properly . This includes the kitchen area.





BELOW IS A LIST OF RECENT SUITS FILED ON THE SHERIFFS OFFICE. MANY INMATES ARE ABUSED DAILY AND HAVE NO CLUE A LEGAL REMEDY IS AVAILABLE...





COLUMBUSJailers in a central Ohio county regularly use stun guns to ''soften up'' inmates who pose no threat and often use the guns on inmates who are disabled, pregnant or under the influence of drugs or alcohol, the Justice Department said in a federal complaint.Franklin County jailers also use the guns to shock naked and restrained prisoners and to punish inmates for routine rule violations, according to the motion filed Wednesday in an ongoing federal civil rights lawsuit.The complaint said jailers regularly put stun guns in a ''drive stun'' mode designed to cause continuous pain to someone resisting an officer.''In case after case, deputies tase people, often in the drive stun mode to cause pain, when the person was greatly outnumbered by a team of deputies who were easily able to physically overpower and control the individual,'' the complaint said.In other cases, jailers are accused of using the guns ''to 'soften up' detainees and regularly applying tasers to individuals who do not pose any threat of violence or harm to themselves or others,'' according to the complaint.The government wants to join a lawsuit against Franklin County brought last summer by a legal rights group on behalf of four current and former inmates. The county is home to the state's capital, Columbus.The county prosecutor's office, which represents the jail, has previously asked U.S. District Court Judge Edmund Sargus to dismiss the claims, saying inmates failed to follow jail complaint procedures before filing the lawsuit. A message left Thursday with the prosecutor's office was not immediately returned.The county has also argued that a video of the July 2009 arrest of one of the inmates, Robert Shreve, clearly shows a combative Shreve struggling with deputies and trying to bite one officer.The group that originally brought the lawsuit, independent state agency Legal Rights Service, said video and written reports show that guards have improperly used stun guns several times since at least January 2008 ''to inflict pain, fear, corporal punishment and humiliation'' when inmates wouldn't obey commands or used profanity or insults.Franklin County, Sheriff Jim Karnes, several deputies and jail supervisors are named in the lawsuit.Like many jails and police agencies, Franklin County has rules governing when stun guns can be used.The government's complaint says jail officials wrongly justify the misuse of stun guns after reviewing reports about their use.The county also fails to properly train deputies in the use of the guns and fails to punish deputies whose use of the guns violates the jail's own written policies and ''well-established standards of law enforcement.''Sargus gave the county two weeks to file objections to the request.





p***s ON SANDWICH SETTLEMENT





COLUMBUS, Ohio (CN) - A jail inmate claims Franklin County sheriff's deputies fed him a bologna sandwich after forcing another inmate, who has HIV and hepatitis C, to put his p***s on the sandwich, and photographed it. The inmate, who is black, says the deputies, who are white, taunted him and showed him the photo after he ate the sandwich.

     Plaintiff Joseph Copeland, who is black, sued jailers Joseph Cantwell and Philip Barnett and Sheriff Jim Karnes, all of whom are white. Copeland claims that Cantwell forced inmate Todd Triplett, who is black, to "place his p***s on the bologna sandwich." When Triplett refused, Cantwell told him, "Put your d**k on the sandwich or I'll put you in the hole," according to the complaint in Franklin County Court. "Inmate Triplett, out of fear complied and at that time a photograph was taken of the act with a cell phone."

     Copeland says Copeland and Barnett then handed him the sandwich, and after he ate it, "Copeland and Barnett showed the picture of Triplett's p***s on the sandwich to plaintiff Copeland and asked, 'How does Triplett's d**k taste?'" Then they laughed at him and humiliated him, he says.

     Triplett sued the same defendants in May, making the same allegations. Copeland claims that the "defendants, all white males, targeted plaintiff because of his race and being an African American and due to his mental disability and handicap."

     He demands punitive damages for assault and civil rights violations. He is represented by Javier Armengau.

     Here is Courthouse News' May 12 story on Triplett's lawsuit.

     Deputies Accused of Playing Cruel Trick

     (CN) - A jail inmate claims two Franklin County Sheriff's deputies forced him to place his p***s on an open bologna sandwich so the deputies could photograph it, and that the two then fed the sandwich to another inmate, and then taunted the man with the photo.

     Todd Triplett, who is black, sued the county, Sheriff Jim Karnes, and Deputy Joseph Cantwell, who allegedly ordered him to put his p***s on the sandwich and photographed it with his cell phone, and Deputy Phillip Barnett, who allegedly held the sandwich for the photograph.

     Triplett demands damages for civil rights violations and assault and battery. He is represented in Franklin County Court by Byron Potts.





MAN FORCED TO LIE IN URINE AND FECES FOR DAYS AND REFUSED A SHOWER....





COLUMBUS, Ohio (WTVN) -- A man is suing the Franklin County Sheriff's Office

after he says he was forced to lie in sewage after a toilet backed up in his

cell. The incident happened in November of 2009 according to the suit filed in

Federal Court.



Robert Krutko says he was one of several inmates in a cell

at the Franklin County Jail on Jackson Pike when the incident happened. He says

he was forced to sleep on the floor due to overcrowding.



"When we awoke

several of us, myself especially, I was covered from head to toe in urine and

feces," Krutko said.



He says they pounded on the door of the cell and

yelled for help, but guards ignored them and then made fun of them.



"They

taunted us, told us we were pieces of crap and to deal with it," he

said.



According to court documents, Krutko claims he was denied medical

treatment and denied a shower for days.



"It was, I would say five maybe

six days," he said.



During that time he says he couldn't even eat because

he was covered in dry urine and feces.



Krutko was in custody for a civil

case out of Florida. He says he spent nearly 100 days behind bars in Franklin

County before being extradited to the Sunshine State. A public records request

showed more than 6,000 incidents of sewage back-ups at the jail in the past five

years according to Krutko.



Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien says he

is reviewing the lawsuit and has forwarded it to the sheriff's office for an

internal investigation.



"We are investigating the circumstances that have

been alleged and will respond appropriately," O'Brien said.



He says while

he can't comment about pending litigation, his experience with the jail has been

that incidents like this are quickly dealt with.



Krutko is seeking

monetary damages, but says he really wants to make sure changes are made so that

no one ever has to go through what he did.