Rampant Prisoner Abuse Previously Alleged under Medford

In 2004, the Lovely County Citizen carried an article by Bill King on alleged widespread abuse of inmates under Carroll County Sheriff Chuck Medford, Jail abuses alleged and denied.

We previously reported on one of the inmates referred to in that article, Michael Griffis. A court Magistrate found that Griffis’ constitutional rights had been violated by then-Sheriff Medford.

Many of the allegations brought up in the Griffis’ proceeding had been reported in the Citizen’s 2004 article. Inadequate psychiatric care was alleged then to have been a problem, as now. Foul conditions in the jail were alleged then as now. “Shake” sandwiches seem to have been the meal of those being punished.

As we noted, the Magistrate did not act on these issues in the 2008 Griffis case, only on the unnecessarily long confinement Medford subjected Griffis to in a restraint chair. The attorney for defendant Medford and others said he expected an appeal. We noticed that Griffis had defended himself (pro se) defense, and that may have been why the verdict was skimpy as it was– either because Griffis was not experienced in courtroom procedures, or because of the documented showing that judges tend to prejudicially favor litigants with attorneys over those who do not have them.