Robert Patrick
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS — A Missouri prison inmate’s lawsuit scheduled for trial Monday alleges he was forced to swap food and sex for toothbrushes and toothpaste after repeatedly being denied basic hygiene items.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in St. Louis against various prison officials, says Eugene Kenneth Jones was too poor to afford the items. Although inmates receive a stipend of at least $7.50 a month, officials immediately took Jones’ money from his account because he owed fees for the state and federal lawsuits he’d filed.
Jones’ legal filings say that from at least May 2008 to early 2009, while he was at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre, Jones repeatedly requested hygiene items and was denied despite prison rules that ensure that inmates receive the basics.
After a series of unsuccessful requests, then-Missouri Department of Corrections Deputy Director Patricia Cornell ordered staff to provide Jones with the hygiene items, but lower-level staff ignored Cornell’s orders, the suit alleges.
Jones was then forced to exchange food and sexual favors with other inmates for those items, filings claim.
He suffered bleeding gums, toothaches, tooth decay and loose teeth and will likely lose his two front teeth, his filings claim.
In their court filings, lawyers for prison officials denied that Jones was “without a toothbrush or toothpaste for a substantial period of time.”
Prison officials say they did not know of a “substantial danger” to his health and weren’t told by Jones that he was supposed to receive free hygiene items, making a claim of cruel and unusual punishment impossible.
They go on to say that any damage Jones suffered to his teeth was caused by “years of poor oral hygiene” before he entered prison. They also said that records show Jones had regular access to medical staff and dentists in prison.
They also said that officials should be immune from Jones’ suit because they made sure he received his stipend.
“Plaintiff’s complaint is that due to his over 11 pending lawsuits, his stipend was withdrawn by the State of Missouri to pay his excessive court filing fees. It is not clearly established, however, that when Plaintiff chooses to file a multitude of lawsuits that DOC has to provide Plaintiff with both the stipend and free hygiene items,” lawyers wrote.
Jones’ lawyer, James Wyrsch, said Friday that at the time, Jones owed hundreds of dollars in legal fees. He also has filed a lawsuit making the same claims about his time at the Southeast Correctional Center in Charleston.
Wyrsch said there has been no suggestion that officials were retaliating against Jones for his frequent lawsuits. He did not know if other inmates have similar complaints. In depositions of officials, he said, “It did not sound like this was something that the individuals we had deposed had encountered.”
Jones is serving a sentence of at least 25 years in prison for robbing a woman at gunpoint of $16 on a gas station parking lot in St. Louis in 2001. He received a longer sentence because he qualified as a prior and persistent offender.
His original lawsuit, filed in 2009 against caseworkers, supervisors and other officials, asked for $35,000 in damages. It also cited Jones’ lack of access to money for envelopes, stamps and pens, meaning he couldn’t communicate with family, friends or legal aid agencies.
But in a January 2014 order, U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey said Jones failed to establish that he has suffered from a lack of access to the court system.
Autrey did say that “... It is well established that inmates are entitled to basic hygiene items and that policies forcing prisoners to choose between pursuing their legal rights and having hygienic products violates the Eighth Amendment.”