Tim HrenchirTopeka Capital-Journal
Six female Topeka Correctional Facility inmates, including five convicted murderers, filed suit last week alleging Kansas Secretary of Corrections Jeff Zmuda and TCF Warden Donna Hook have shown deliberate indifference to their safety and health by exposing them to fungus, toxins, sewer gas and mold without adequate ventilation.
The handwritten lawsuit complaints filed June 5 by inmates Kora Liles, Kimberley Younger, Barbara Frantz, Micaela Spencer, Sharon Huddleston and Jennifer Lockett also allege the state and its food provider, Aramark Food Service, have shown deliberate indifference to their health and safety by serving them food that causes "personal injury."
The inmates acted as their own attorneys in filing the complaints while asking that they be certified as a class action lawsuit covering all the 900-plus inmates incarcerated at TCF, the state's women's prison at 815 S.E. Rice Road.
Class action suits allow for the claims of all class members — whether they know they have been damaged or not —to be resolved in a single proceeding through the efforts of the named plaintiffs and their legal counsel.
The only lawsuit document that appeared to give a specific dollar amount being sought was one filed by Lockett, who specifically asked for "5,000" in "declaratory relief."
The Kansas Department of Corrections doesn't comment about pending litigation, its public information officer, David Thompson, said Wednesday morning.
Suit alleges policy is to 'paint over areas of mold'
The complaints, which are each 12 pages long, allege the inmates' claims of exposure to mold, fungus, sewer gas and toxins can be demonstrated through prior safety inspection reports, asbestos surveys, photos of the cafeteria, showers and certain walls and ceilings and a recent report of mold at a time when buildings were shut down.
"The class requested reports but they are denied since the (policy) is a staff-only read; therefore, pictures or a lay person can clearly recognize these issues (which is how class members are confident they exist)," the complaints said.
Regarding ventilation, the complaints say: "In fact, windows do not open, vents are never cleaned inside the rooms and outside the rooms, clear and obvious signs show that air is not filtered or cleaned at all. TCF's policy is enforced by Zmuda and Hook to paint over areas of mold."
Poor ventilation increases exposure from "various drugs" that are brought in, the complaints say.
"Some of these drugs are so dangerous that individuals can die from these drugs and are dying outside of prison," they say.
Complaints say inmate meals were sometimes served frozen
The complaints allege TCF and Aramark serve meals cold, including sometimes frozen or raw, amid unsanitary conditions characterized by rodents, toxins, mold and leaking plumbing.
The meals cause stomach issues, physical pain and nausea to the inmates, they say.
"These were not isolated events but instead a widespread violation," the complaints say.
The meals served do not meet the inmates' nutritional needs, the complaints add.
Each inmate except for Lockett also submitted filings asking that they be allowed to pursue the lawsuit in the character or manner of a pauper.
What happened with TCF complaints made last year?
U.S. District Judge John W. Lungstrum last November threw out a lawsuit by former TCF inmate Katelynn Fowler, who said she was denied access to showers after working for hours in a rat-infested kitchen that had backed-up plumbing.
Fowler acted as her own attorney. Her case was dismissed after she failed to respond to Lungstrum's order calling upon her to fix deficiencies he found with her original complaint.
Lungstrum's order said the suit was dismissed for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted and, in the alternative, for failure to comply with a court order.
What happened with a complaint last year alleging TCF staff abuses?
The corrections department announced last October it had terminated two employees and disciplined six others for their conduct related to the alleged Sept. 7 abuse of a female inmate at TCF.
"It has been determined that staff performed in a manner that is unacceptable, violated agency policy and procedures and was not in keeping with the values of the organization," Thompson said.
Why are the plaintiffs in the lawsuit being held?
Lawsuit plaintiff Younger, 58, is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for the capital murder of two people in 2018 in Barton County.
Liles, 38, was sentenced to serve at least 107 years for crimes that include three counts of first-degree murder committed in 2017 in Topeka.
Frantz, 58, is serving time for first-degree murder committed in 2017 in Leavenworth County and could be released at the earliest in 2042, according to the corrections department website.
It says Spencer, 29, is serving time for crimes that include first-degree murder in 2019 in Sedgwick County. She could be released at the earliest in 2069.
Huddleston, 69, is serving time for first-degree murder in 2000 in Sedgwick County and could be released at the earliest in 2035, the corrections department website says.
It says Lockett, 48, is serving time for forgery, theft, drug crimes and an offender registration violation committed between 2018 and 2022 in Sedgwick County. She could be released at the earliest in November 2025.
Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.
