A civil rights group filed a lawsuit against Grand Traverse County claiming they mistreated a jail inmate by not giving him access to prescribed medication.
Sheriff Tom Bensley, Undersheriff Mike Shea and Jail Administrator Chris Barsheff are also named as defendants in the suit.
The lawsuit was filed by the Michigan American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Cyrus Patson, who says while in jail on bond violations he was not provided Suboxone as prescribed by his doctor to treat opioid withdrawal symptoms.
Patson’s attorney tried to get the judge to provide him with the Suboxone while he was in jail earlier this year.
Patson is now on bond awaiting his sentencing on Nov. 12 for tampering with a monitoring device.
That means he could be sent back to the Grand Traverse County Jail.
The lawsuit asks the court to require the jail to provide inmates with their prescribed medical treatment, especially for those with opioid use disorder.
They claim denying it to inmates violates the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Eighth Amendment.
In the lawsuit filed yesterday, the ACLU says: “Without intervention by this court, defendants will strip Mr. Patson of his prescribed treatment, disregarding sound medicine. The effects of sudden, forcible withdrawal from Suboxone will be immediate and excruciating and will subject Mr. Patson to a heightened risk of death.”
A hearing as not been scheduled in the federal suit filed in the western district of Michigan.
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