By KELSEY SWANEKAMP
Buffalo Law Journal

Stories of excessive violence, unsanitary conditions and incomplete medical care are detailed in a U.S. Department of Justice report on an investigation of what it concludes to be the "woefully inadequate" administration of two Erie County jails.

The almost two-year investigation evaluated two facilities - the Erie County Holding Center in downtown Buffalo and the Erie County Correctional Facility in Alden - in terms of three standards: protection from harm, medical and mental health, and sanitation. The 50-page report claims that the two jails evidenced unsatisfactory conditions in all three categories.

It also referenced several previous warnings of inadequate conditions from state and federal agencies.

The Justice Department points to shortfalls in providing appropriate mental-health care or suicide-prevention efforts. According to the report, there were three suicides and at least 10 attempted suicides in the Holding Center in 2007 and 2008.

The report also alleges that inmates in the Holding Center have been subjected to "inappropriate, excessive and degrading uses of force" by the jail staff. Because of the lack of a coherent and comprehensive policy, the report said, staff are "unfettered" in their use of force.

"Many of the findings are simply untrue," said Erie County Attorney Cheryl Green.

During the investigation, the Justice Department said it encountered several accounts of "elevator rides," in which handcuffed inmates were brought into the Holding Center elevators and severely beaten by jail staff. The elevators did not have security cameras.

The report also details the March 2007 death of a correctional-facility inmate from a stroke following a brain injury from having his head "smashed" into a wall by the facility's deputies.

The Justice Department also names incidents of what it terms "inmate-on-inmate violence." In one instance, says the report, an inmate was assaulted by three other inmates while the deputy on duty was on a "bathroom break."

In a letter addressed to County Executive Chris Collins, the Justice Department said that Collins' lack of cooperation in providing access to the jails was "especially troubling."

Green said that the county takes its responsibility to provide a safe facility seriously. However, she said, "it also takes seriously its responsibility to Erie County taxpayers when making budgetary considerations."

She added that many of the grievances in the report had been addressed or were in the process of being corrected.

While she declined to discuss specifics of what had been addressed, Green said that there was an ongoing jail management task force in place.

"Prisoners grossly exaggerated what goes on," said Green. "It is all hearsay," she said.

Nan Haynes, a University at Buffalo Law School professor who represented the plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit against the Holding Center in the 1990s, said she is frustrated with the county's denial of the report's findings.

"The county's arrogance is appalling," she said. "These are facts, not opinion," she said, referencing the report.

David Jay, an attorney with experience filing lawsuits on behalf of prisoners, said he believes the July 15 federal report will have no effect on the state of Erie County jails.

"The state has been hounding the Correctional Facility and Holding Center for many months," said Jay. "They don't seem to get it."

Among the prisoners that Jay has represented in lawsuits against Erie County's jails was a man who was allegedly forced by the guards to do repetitive squat jumps as punishment until he was unable to walk. Haynes currently represents a diabetic man who claims he was denied insulin in the Holding Center and subsequently went into diabetic shock.

Jay said a "change of attitude" was necessary to create change in the jails.

The report suggests several remedial measures to correct the deficiencies it found in safety, sanitation and health care.

Alejandro Miyar, a spokesman for the Department of Justice, said that the report speaks for itself. He added that the department "urges the county to work with us so the identified problems can be addressed."

The Department of Justice's civil-rights division is executing similar investigations in several other counties, he said, including Miami-Dade County in Florida and Orange County in California. The division recently released a report on Harris County Jail in Texas, which found inadequate medical care and excessive use of force.