BY JANE PRENDERGAST
The Cincinnati Enquirer
![[cell]](/editions/1998/10/23/cell2_180x133.jpg)
The cell where James Franklin died.
(Kenton County Jail photo)
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COVINGTON -- The letters describe a profoundly sad existence: uncontrollable bowel movements, mental confusion, toes lost to diabetes.
The words describe James Franklin, a diabetic man who lived out the end of his 68 years this summer in a Kenton County Jail cell. They come directly from a place where most people wouldn't expect to find such compassion.
They're from the jail, from Mr. Franklin's fellow inmates:
- "From talking with Mr. Franklin, he did not really know why he was locked up," wrote inmate Michael LaBordeaux. "I have no medical background, but in my eyes he was very sick."
- "We the inmates of Cell 1039 had to raise hell for several hours before we could get an officer to bring some clean clothes," wrote John Workman.
- "One inmate . . . sat up all night with him," wrote Arthur Crowe. "Any layman with absolutely no medical experience, could tell that James needed medical attention, not being here in jail."
James Franklin
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It was only for one night that the seven inmates took care of Mr. Franklin. But six of them were so upset by what they saw they decided to write letters to the dead man's family. They wanted his children to know what really happened to Mr. Franklin, they said, not the version they feared the jail would give.
They wrote the letters about two weeks after Mr. Franklin's death in the jail June 26 -- long before his family filed a $50 million lawsuit. Several of the letters do, however, say they would be willing to be witnesses in court if the family needs them. The family is now represented by Covington lawyer Bridget Hofler-Saunders and local civil-rights attorney Scott Greenwood.
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JAMES FRANKLIN'S LAST DAYS
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June 13: Mr. Franklin, 68, of Covington, is arrested after allegedly shooting at a Covington police officer. After being checked out at a hospital, he is taken to the Kenton County Jail.
June 16: Mr. Franklin started out in a regular cell with other men, but was moved by this date to an isolation cell. Jail authorities say he was moved so he could get better medical care.
June 21: A nurse's note: "He's going down hill fast -- can't walk -- can't go to the bathroom -- cell is a mess -- His snacks still in the bag lying on the floor."
June 22: A nurse's note: "I'm ing to see if anyway we can get him out of here."
June 24: An X-ray of Mr. Franklin's left hand shows degenerative arthritis.
June 25: A nurse's note regarding Mr. Franklin: "I went down to his cell to give snack and he could not get up from his cot. He had one leg halfway (in) his pants, no shirt. BM (bowel movement) all over cell and his wheelchair. Food all over cell. It was terrible site."
June 26: Mr. Franklin is found dead in his cell about 5:40 a.m.
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Mr. Franklin was found dead about 5:40 a.m. June 26 in an isolation cell in the basement. His autopsy says he died of diabetes and heart problems, but one of the tests done by the state pathology lab indicated his blood-sugar level was virtually non-existent. That would mean, experts have said, that he either got too much insulin or did not eat properly.
Mr. Franklin's care in the jail and what the inmates have to say about it are at the center of ongoing questions about jail policies. His death has become a hot-button issue for some other county officials who say Jailer Don Younger needs help running the facility. Mr. Younger says he doesn't.
The inmates claim deputy jailers left Mr. Franklin in their cell that first night because they knew the others there were older men, most of whom had found religion behind bars. The deputies knew that combination would mean Mr. Franklin would be taken care of by the others, Mr. LaBordeaux said in an interview earlier this week.
Inmate Norman Baynum remembered it this way: "The day they brought Mr. Franklin into our cell, one of the other inmates asked the jailer why he wasn't being put into a medical cell, and his reply was that this was the best cell to put him in.
"Because this is the best cell in the whole jail because out of the seven inmates in here, five of us are Christians and they (the officers) knew we would help take care of him."
Mr. Workman wrote of the first night Mr. Franklin was wheeled into the cell: "I asked the jailer where the man was to sleep at and he said on the floor. But I could not allow that to happen and I gave him my bed to sleep in.
"They "the officers of the jail' (must have) totally left him to his self because when they put him in the cell he had messed all over himself. We the inmates of cell 1039 had to raise hell for several hours before we could get an officer to bring some clean clothes and the things we needed to clean the man up."
One jail employee "helped clean him once and left supplies for future cleanup later in the night, in which the other men in the cell took turns in doing so," wrote Lawrence Tobergte and Paul York in a letter both men signed.
"I had to clean Mr. Franklin up two more times during the night and change his pads and helped him go to the bathroom," Mr. Baynum wrote. "And when morning came around, I helped him eat his breakfast and put his arm into a sling made from my extra sheet.
"After that, I put him back to bed and when he went back to sleep I went to outside recreation to pray for him."
He also wrote that he thought of Mr. Franklin around Father's Day as he was making a card for his own father. He made one for Mr. Franklin. All the other inmates signed it.
![[cell]](/editions/1998/10/23/cell_600x403.jpg)