The Muffin MonsterMIDLAND COUNTY, MI (WNEM) -
Suspects are put in jail to protect the public, but how do you protect the jail from the suspects?
The Midland County sheriff has a real mess on his hands right now after it turns out the inmates aren't just sitting quietly in their cells - they're busy clogging up the plumbing.
Taxpayers in Midland County just had to flush more than $20,000 down the drain after inmates at the jail started flushing things like wrappers for soap, candy bar wrappers and their own clothes down the toilet. That made sewage removal difficult for the facility.
Jail administrators told TV5 that having inmates flushing things down the pot is fairly common. "It's not that they're getting one on us, it's normal, everyday business," said a sheriff's deputy. "When they designed this facility, they went with a little different way about it and it didn't work for the amount of people we have."
When the jail opened in 2009, catch baskets were put into place to filter out solid waste and other debris from the jail's catch basin. When the jail reached full capacity earlier this year, the catch baskets couldn't keep up. That forced county officials to come up with another plan for waste disposal - it's called the Muffin Monster.
"It's a lot like your garbage disposal, except this one's able to handle sewage from 250 inmates all at the same time," said a county administrator. Most prisons and jails already have a Muffin Monster. "We chose to try new technology to save a buck here and there," said the administrator. "It's becoming expensive for me to have staff at the facilities seven days a week to clean the system out so the jail can remain operational."
The equipment is expected to be installed in Midland in about a month.
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