Louisville Metro Council members call on mayor to replace embattled jail director

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — After five people who were incarcerated in Louisville's jail died within a recent six-week period, some council members are calling on Mayor Greg Fischer to replace Metro Corrections Director Dwayne Clark and his executive staff.

Metro Council President David James, D-6th District, and Metro Councilwoman Amy Holton Stewart, D-25th, announced Monday at City Hall they are filing a resolution that expresses a vote of “no confidence” in Clark and his top staff.

“Director Clark has repeatedly failed to aggressively address contraband being smuggled into Metro Corrections,” says the resolution, also sponsored by Metro Councilman Mark Fox, D-13th. “Director Clark and his executive staff have allowed the moral of the officers under their watch to deteriorate to dangerous levels through unprofessional leadership practices."

Three people who were in Metro Corrections custody — Kenneth Hall, 59; Rickitta Smith, 34; and Stephanie Dunbar, 48; — died within five days in late November and early December, prompting the ACLU of Kentucky and a coalition of local groups to call on city leaders to immediately fix a "crisis" of "inhumane" and "untenable" conditions at the jail.

Clark, whom Fischer appointed to the jail director role in 2019, told the Metro Council Public Safety Committee in December that suicide, drugs and heart disease led to the deaths of Dunbar, Smith and Hall, respectively, and he said at the time the FBI would look into one of the deaths, without specifying which one.

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Garry Wetherill, 41, died at the hospital after a reported suicide attempt at Metro Corrections on Jan. 2, and Keith Smith, 66, died Jan. 9 after he was found unresponsive in his cell.

A sixth death occurred earlier in 2021, and Fischer previously noted the jail sees three total deaths in a typical year.

Stewart also said Monday that three people on home incarceration died of overdoses in the last week, while several women were treated for suspected overdoses in September.

Last year, Metro Corrections lost 70 officers, 50 of whom resigned, and hired 49, with 153 current vacancies, according to Stewart.

"After speaking with numerous officers, morale is low among corrections employees, and they have little to no faith in the leadership that has been put before them," Stewart said. "Staffing has been a major issue for many months, with officers forced to work mandatory double shifts, affecting their health and their personal lives. We acknowledge how hard these officers have worked in such tough conditions through the last few years, including a pandemic, and without the support of strong leaders, it’s no wonder so many officers are feeling forced to leave."

A Metro Corrections spokesman had not returned a phone call and email seeking comment as of late Monday afternoon.

"There are record openings in workforces across the country, and our Metro Corrections is no different, suffering historic vacancy rates for in both sworn and civilian staff," Jessica Wethington, a spokeswoman for Fischer, said. "Our Corrections leadership team is facing unprecedented challenges in the past two years during the global pandemic, so it is expected that Director Dwayne Clark and his team will be examined from every corner."

Wethington also said when Metro Council members have "worked with us on recent jail improvements, it has been helpful and appreciated."

"Today’s filing, however, is unhelpful and divisive, and an unnecessary distraction from the important efforts Director Clark and his team have been making in this unprecedented time of challenges," the mayor's spokeswoman said. "We welcome further constructive engagement with the Council."

Clark and his staff have already faced heat over job performance concerns during the pandemic, with members of the Fraternal Order of Police lodge that represents corrections officers sharing complaints over staffing levels last year and voting 216 to 6 in September to formally express "no confidence" in Clark's ability to "lead, manage and direct the activities of this agency."

Internal investigations from Metro Corrections and Louisville Metro Police into each fatality remain ongoing, which is standard procedure, and Fischer said earlier in January after the latest death that more federal involvement in the cases was possible "if there's any type of pattern to these recent deaths.”

City and union officials have pointed to jail staffing issues as contributing to the troubling number of deaths in recent months, with COVID-19 also forcing officers to stay off the job due to illness or potential exposure to positive cases.

In December, Metro Council members approved a pitch from Holton Stewart to use more than $70,000 to bring in two drug-sniffing canines to the jail. She said her pitch grew from conversations she had with jail officers about "what their needs were in the jail and how we could this problem."

But Stewart said Monday "there has been no urgency, none at all, in pursuing the creation of this K-9 unit which would obviously help rid the jail of this drug problem."

And after an initial rejection, members of the FOP union that represents jail staff approved an agreement in January with the city that gives all sworn officers an 8% raise along with retention bonuses and premium pay.

"It is no secret that Metro Corrections has been in a downward spiral for quite some time," FOP Lodge 77 President Daniel Johnson, whose union represents the the jail's staff, told The Courier Journal in a Monday message. "The foundation at Metro Corrections is its workforce, which has been in a steady decline for several years. Until recently, there has been no urgency placed on the staffing crisis...Even now, it seems far more emphasis is being placed on just trying to bring in new employees and very little effort (is) being placed on retaining its experienced officers.

"We are not surprised by this proposed resolution and hope it will help turn things around at Metro Corrections."

James said Clark tried to get ahead of Monday’s “no confidence” announcement by sending a memo last week to Metro Council members.

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"I am going to begin providing updates on status, changes and improvements we are making at Corrections in several key areas every two weeks," Clark told council members in a Friday message. "Much of what we have been able to do is because of your help and good work. It is essential that you are aware of these efforts during this most critical time at Corrections."

Clark proceeded to tout the recent pay and incentive agreement that, by July 1, will have officers start at $21.75 an hour to earn over $45,000 a year.

“I also want to thank you for your funding to further incentivize new hires at $8,000 — at both our Civilian and Sworn positions,” Clark added.

He then shared how Wellpath, the jail’s medical provider, now has a full-time doctor on site and that a “negotiated and enhanced contract” is resulting in more treatment for those locked up.

Clark also said the jail’s population has decreased from 1,665 in September to roughly 1,480 more recently, thanks to work with prosecutors, defense attorneys and the ACLU on low-level bonds.

And he thanked Stewart for the K-9 funding, with city officials “utilizing LMPD’s contract for canines to fast-track the purchase of these dogs.”

”We will be working through the next steps of training the handler and the canine team at a special school dedicated for this purpose,” Clark said. “The training process takes 11 weeks, so we can expect to be up and running by Spring. In the interim, I will continue to use LMPD’s canine team, and many thanks to Chief (Erika) Shields for accommodating us.”

Metro Corrections is also in the process of updating body scanners and camera systems to keep out drugs and boost safety at the jail, Clark said.

“Within the next week,” Clark added, “the Chief of Public Services will make an announcement of a Public Services Task Force” that will discuss recruitment, staffing, medical care and other jail issues.

He also said he continues to meet with the state Department of Corrections, ACLU leaders and other advocates to explore “alternate pathways” for convicted felons, home incarceration participants and others.

In response to Clark’s plan to update council members every two weeks, James and Stewart said some of the announced changes at the jail should have been implemented previously. James said Metro Council asked jail leaders about recruitment and staffing issues three years ago.

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Only the mayor, not Metro Council, has the power to remove Clark and his executive staff, James noted.

“We are losing our citizens inside of the jail,” James added. "It endangers the lives of people that are incarcerated, and it endangers the lives of our staff, our officers over there. ...This is the time where we have to stand up and say, the time is now. There’s too little too late."

As for a new director, Stewart she feels "it’s very important for the leadership to connect with the officers and the jail staff, and I think there’s a huge disconnect right now between leadership and the people who work for them."

Fischer is serving his final year in office, but James said changes cannot wait until a new mayor takes charge in 2023.

"Our sense of urgency right now is that no other incarcerated residents die inside the jail," James said. "So I don’t want to wait 334 days for a new mayor to decide we’re going to try to protect citizens inside the jail or the officers inside the jail."

Reach Billy Kobin at bkobin@courierjournal.com.

Who is Dwayne Clark?

Dwayne Clark first joined Metro Corrections in 2004 as deputy director and later served as chief of staff for his predecessor, Mark Bolton.

Clark retired in 2019 but returned to lead the department after Bolton stepped down that summer due to health-related reasons.

Fischer said in 2019 that Clark has "a lifetime of experience to this important position," calling him a dedicated professional "with a heart as big as the city."

"To call him a veteran corrections official would be an understatement," Fischer said.

The FOP president at the time also praised Clark's appointment, which followed several years of concerns over jail overcrowding.

After Fischer appointed him as director, Clark said he hoped to maintain a "safe, clean, efficient jail" moving forward, and look at ways to recruit and retain staff.

He previously said he wanted the community to know "that we care about the people we're in charge of."

"We want to release them in a better shape than what they came in," Clark said in 2019.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville jail deaths: Metro Council members sour on Director Clark