Nurses say they were fired for reporting poor conditions at Wayne Co. juvenile detention

Two former nurses at the Wayne County Juvenile Detention Facility are suing the county, alleging they were fired for bringing up concerns about how medical issues were handled.

Tanzy Huddleston and Shermanstine Morrow both worked for the Juvenile Detention Facility for less than a year, after being hired in March 2023 as nurses. They were hired just as Wayne County Executive Warren Evans declared a public health emergency amid overcrowding at the detention facility, which which was built to house about 80 juvenile offenders, but has been at nearly double its capacity at times holding up to 150 teenagers.

The state took control of the facility in March after a child was reported to have been sexually assaulted and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Elizabeth Hertel expressed "serious concerns" when they intervened. Kids did not have showers, access to education or clean underwear, Hertel said.

The state ended supervision in June after the county cut the number of youths there and increased staff, but resumed monitoring two weeks later due to an undisclosed incident. The Juvenile Detention Facility lost its full license in late October and is now operating on a six-month provisional license due to repeated violations of licensing regulations, including a lack of staff supervision, poor living conditions and children not receiving hygiene products or recreation time.

The nurses' attorney, Darnell Barton, said the issues at the detention facility are "egregious." Though many of the teens may have committed crimes, they're still children, he said. Some of the teens in the detention facility are wards of the state and have not committed crimes, the state just has nowhere else to put them.

"The whole point of DHHS (Michigan Department of Health and Human Services) coming in was that they were going to change this," Barton said. "There are people there still at the facility that are concerned."

Wayne County spokesperson Megan Kirk did not respond for comment.

Shortly after being hired, Huddleston and Morrow, the nurses who are suing, noticed the disorganization of the facility and processes, according to the civil lawsuit, which was filed in early December in Wayne County Circuit Court.

Medications and treatments were not being logged into the Medication Administration Record, which is required by law, and instead were written on loose papers, according to the lawsuit.

The nurses also found that medications were improperly being disseminated to the youth and that some medications were expired, according to the filing. They reported the issues to their boss.

In April, Morrow began making formal written complaints about moldy tools in the crash carts, which are mobile units that contains tools needed in a medical emergency, according to the lawsuit. On multiple occasions nurses had to use improperly supplied carts during emergencies, the suit alleges.

Morrow said there were EpiPen allergy medications that had been expired for three years, the contents checklist for the emergency room bag hadn't been checked or updated in almost two years, and the blood glucose monitor expired two years ago.

Huddleston alleged kids were being given expired medications and that their boss would recycle medications from youths who had been discharged and give them to other kids who needed the same medicines. She also said prescription medicine was not locked up.

Wayne Co., state at odds over blame for deteriorating juvenile jail

After Morrow expressed frustration to a Wayne County Sheriff's deputy on May 23 when a 911 call had to be made because they didn't have resources to handle a medical emergency, her boss told her she was unhappy Morrow had spoken about facility conditions and said she had never had someone come oversee how she ran it until Morrow spoke out. Her boss threatened to "reconsider" Morrow's employment and advised her to quit. She said the same to Huddleston, according to the lawsuit.

Huddleston was fired Oct. 16 and Morrow was terminated on Oct. 20. In their lawsuit, they're seeking to be reinstated, damages, and the value of lost fringe and pension benefits, plus lost wages.

kberg@detroitnews.com