By Ed White
Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) — The Michigan Corrections Department, accused of unconstitutional punishment, is fighting back against an inmate’s claim that he lost a tooth and suffered gum disease because he was denied toothpaste for nearly a year.
Jerry Flanory of Flint made headlines last spring when he persuaded a federal appeals court to allow him to sue officials at an Upper Peninsula prison.
The state has now offered its version of the 58-year-old’s oral health, and it wants the case dismissed again.
Flanory entered Newberry prison in 2004 with only five of the typical 32 adult teeth, officials said in court documents filed this week. The tooth yanked in 2006 had long been in poor shape, they said.
“The tooth at issue was already loose and the support structure significantly damaged. . . . It was not a new condition,” Assistant Attorney General Joshua Marcum wrote in a 27-page response, accompanied by affidavits and other records.
Dr. Bonita Neighbors, a regional dental director in the prison system, said toothpaste would have been no remedy for the doomed condition of the tooth on the lower left side of Flanory’s mouth.
Flanory claims he was denied free or subsidized toothpaste as a punishment for not attending prison classes. He already had a GED, or general equivalent degree, and an associate degree from a community college.
The state said an inventory of Flanory’s personal possessions showed 20 tubes of toothpaste, four toothbrushes, 17 bars of soap and three combs when he was transferred to another prison in May 2006.
He also had opportunities to get dental products as part of a free hygiene kit, Marcum said.
Flanory, who is representing himself, was released from prison a year ago after serving five years for assault. He’s now back in prison and could not be reached for comment last Friday.
Flanory’s lawsuit alleging cruel punishment was dismissed as frivolous in 2009, but a three-judge panel at the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati reinstated it last May, saying, “This court has found dental health to be of great importance.”
The case is pending in federal court in Marquette. The state said it didn’t respond at earlier stages because it hadn’t been served with the lawsuit.
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