Indiana Inmate Severs Finger Tip, Mails It to Newspaper to Protest Jail Conditions

An inmate at an Indiana jail severed part of his finger and mailed it to a local newspaper to protest the conditions of that jail.

WTHR reported that Michael McCune, 60, severed the tip of his left middle finger and mailed it, along with a two-page handwritten letter to Scott Underwood, the editor of the Herald Bulletin.

“Find enclosed my left middle finger tip that I removed for a reason: to bring to light the oppressive conditions that exist here at the Madison County Jail,” McCune wrote in a letter to the newspaper.

McCune alleged that county jail staff subject inmates to abuse, falsification of conduct records, sleeping on the floor, cold food, and violations of due process.

“I am of sound mind. I removed this finger-tip to bring about changes of the oppressive conditions that exist here […],” he wrote on the second page of the letter.

The Madison County Sheriff’s Office confirmed with the Herald Bulletin that McCune said he cut his fingertip using a razor blade May 21. The letter to the Herald Bulletin was postmarked by the U.S. Postal Service on May 21.

Sheriff Scott Mellinger said razor blades for shaving are provided to inmates every couple of days and are then collected. McCune had surgery on his left middle finger this week to remove another part of the finger to prevent it from getting infected.

McCune has since been transferred to the state Pendleton Correctional Facility, where he is awaiting trial on an attempted murder charge after he was accused of stabbing Lavern Pflugh 13 times at a birthday party on January 12, KIRO reported.

Mellinger said this week that the sheriff’s department is researching the possibility of charging McCune with one count of sending hazardous material by mail, according to the Herald Bulletin.