The Guardian has exclusively obtained a copy of an internal investigation from inside the Fayette County Jail that details that inmates were denied the right to use a bathroom and were forced to use the restroom in a laundry room sink while deputies played on their cell phones and watched movies — for years.
A 26-page internal investigation conducted by their own detective outlines the disturbing allegations that inmates held by the Fayette County Sheriff’s office are denied access to a bathroom and are forced to use a laundry room sink.
It all came to the attention of the Sheriff’s office administration after a county maintenance worker was asked to repair a sink in the laundry room of the county jail. A memo — written by Chief Deputy Andy Bivens — addressed to the Sheriff’s Captain outlines the allegations that the facility maintenance manager brought to his attention.
“While at the county jail for repairs to a sink….[the facility manager]…. discovered that inmates had been urinating in it [the sink].”
The memo went on to say that the maintenance worker had talked with inmates who said that deputies were forcing them to do it. The chief requested that a detective be assigned to investigate the claims.
Detective Chuck Kyle was tapped to lead the internal investigation. Kyle wrote in his report that he brought in five inmates — all assigned as inmate jail workers — for an interview. Inmate workers are inmates who have typically displayed good behavior and a desire to receive an early release from jail by doing work. The workers — also known as trustees — walk around outside of their cells inside the jail, doing household chores like mopping the floors, doing the dishes, and folding laundry. When the inmates are outside of their cells, the only place to use the bathroom is in a shower room with a toilet inside the booking area of the jail, right next to where the deputies sit during their shifts.
One-by-one, Detective Kyle wrote that the inmates said they all had been denied the right to use the bathroom at least one time or another, and that all of them had been told for months to “just go back up-stairs” and to stop complaining.
One inmate said that, “he had went out and asked [to use the bathroom] in the afternoon and was told to go back upstairs while deputies played on their phones.” That same inmate also said that it was sometime in May that he asked to use the bathroom when “Deputy Josh Cash told him to go upstairs and use the sink.”
The inmate told Detective Kyle that he had used the bathroom in a mop bucket at least a couple of times.
A second inmate said that he had been a part of the worker’s program off-and-on for seven years, and that inmates had always used the bathroom in the sink for the last seven years out of fear of being told they could not use the bathroom.
Another inmate gave a similar interview. He said that he, too, has been denied the use of a bathroom, and that, “deputies are mostly on their cell phones” and that one jail corporal was on YouTube and was texting a lot.
The Corporal the inmate talked about in his interview is Corporal Matthew Stegall, hired by the Sheriff in 2005. Stegall is the second in command at the jail and is paid $60,000 a year; or at least, he was. Stegall resigned in August shortly after another internal investigation revealed that he lied to his superiors, defied a judicial order by the Court of Common Pleas, and misled investigators in that internal investigation.
Just like the inmates, the detective brought in the jailers who are entrusted to care for the inmates. Finding themselves on the other side of the interrogation room table, the deputies all denied any wrong doing.
All the deputies, except one.
Deputy Cameron Myers told Detective Kyle that when he was in training, his training officer told him that the inmates had a “sink they use to urinate in.”
Myers went on to say that Corporal Stegall was on his phone an “excessive amount of time,” and that he felt he had to pick up 100% of the slack of his then-supervisor when they worked together. The deputy also said that the corporal would use his phone 3/4 of the time throughout his 8-hour shift; it is alleged in the internal investigation report that Stegall would Snapchat his girlfriend.
After interviewing the inmates and deputies, Detective Kyle wrote in his investigative report that it was unfounded that deputies had told inmates to use the bathroom in a sink, despite at least one inmate saying that he was directly told by a deputy to do so.
However, it was written in the report findings that, “it was substantiated in the investigation that inmates are denied free access to use the restroom by deputies. However, without being told to do so, inmates have been urinating in the sink as a common practice because of being denied free access to the bathroom.”
None of the inmates named in the report would sit down for an interview with the Guardian, saying that they are frequent visitors to the jail and that they feared retaliation when they returned.
Al Gerhardstein, who has been a civil rights lawyer for more than forty years and has represented several inmates who have filed lawsuits against county jails for inhumane treatment, said that the inmates, undoubtedly, have had their civil rights violated.
“Yes, that is a civil rights violation,” he said. “If [the inmates] are going to be given a job by the government such as the trustee job, being a basic human being says you have to be able to relieve yourself in a dignified way. The eighth amendment against cruel punishment would apply…. it is a clear civil rights violation, there is not anything nuance about it.”
During the investigation, Kyle said that it was found that deputies have “excessive phone usage” while working and that certain deputies being on their phone all the time during their shifts has caused other deputies to have to pick up the slack and do the job of two deputies.
The internal investigation into using the bathroom in the sink was ordered closed by the chief deputy without any disciplinary actions being taken, but a “no cell phone policy” was put in place barring jailers from using their cell phones while at work.
The Guardian requested an interview with Fayette County Sheriff Vernon P. Stanforth to get his side of the story, but he sent a written a statement instead.
“Once made aware of the behavior of the inmates, they were immediately instructed to cease the improper use of the utility sink,” the Sheriff’s statement reads. “The sink was disinfected. Inmates assigned to the laundry detail must ask permission to move from the laundry room to the booking area where the restroom is located. This is a security control procedure. Additional Security procedures and precautions including restricting possessing and usage of cell phones by correction staff have been implemented.”
You may read the full internal investigation by clicking here.