Lawsuit Archives - MICHAEL O. ALLEN

BERGEN OFFICIAL DEFENDS JAIL STATE; Testifies More Work is Needed

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, March 12, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | 5 Star | NEWS | B01

Bergen County officials on Wednesday opened their defense in a lawsuit charging that conditions in the crowded jail rob inmates of their constitutional rights, while acknowledging that improvements are needed.

Undersheriff Gary R. Buriello, who oversees operation of the jail, testified that the freeholders last year approved a $5.3 million bond to pay for extensive repairs and renovations throughout the Bergen County Jail Annex.

However, Buriello said he worried that the overcrowding could hold back that work.

“We have to have significant [state] inmate population reduction so that we won’t have to worry where to put the inmates while we are doing the work,” he said. He added that he was discussing such moves with state officials.

In testimony elicited by Deputy County Counsel Murshell Johnson, Buriello said 372 of 992 prisoners in the main jail and the annex Wednesday were state-sentenced inmates. He was the first witness called by the county.

The state Inmate Advocacy Office, on behalf of jail inmates, filed suit in 1988 against the county and state. The lawsuit charged that serious deficiencies exist in conditions, policies, and procedures at the jail, including in the areas of housing, health services, sanitation, food service, lighting, plumbing, ventilation, recreation, and security. The net effect of the deficiencies is to deny inmates their constitutional rights, the suit contends.

Buriello’s testimony Wednesday at the hearing in Newark was intended to counter those charges and testimony by witnesses called by the Inmate Advocacy Office, Johnson said. He also described the jail, how the Sheriff’s Department runs it, and the rules that govern inmate life.

Johnson said a measure of Bergen County’s seriousness in managing its jail is that it has increased the jail’s capacity every few years. A 72-cell, 144-bed addition to the jail was opened Wednesday, she said, and filling the addition will allow the county to move 135 inmates who slept on mattresses on the floor of the jail gymnasium out into other parts of the jail. The gymnasium has been used to house inmates for about three years.

“We are providing adequate level of services to the inmates,” she said. “We are actively trying to manage the population in the jail by instituting different programs, specifically the wristlet program,” which allows some people to serve their sentence at home.

Buriello testified that the county two weeks ago asked contractors for bids on the renovations and repairs at the annex. To begin this fall, the work will include expansion of the jail’s medical services section, complete renovations of several of the jail annex housing areas, and new electrical wiring, plumbing, a fire protection system, and a boiler.

He also said the jail is soliciting proposals on a new administrative building so that large areas of the annex could be used for the original purposes for which they were constructed.

If administrative functions are moved out of secured areas of the jail, opened areas may be used as intake housing, where new inmates would be observed as they adjust to jail life, he said.

Deputy Attorney-General Catherine M. Brown, who is handling the case for the state, declined to comment on any aspect of the case. Contending that the Inmate Advocacy Office failed to prove its case, Brown last week filed motions in U.S. District Court asking that it be dismissed. A hearing on her motion has been scheduled for April 13.

Buriello is expected to return to the stand Friday.

Caption: 1 – At the Bergen County Jail, inmates sleeping on mattresses on the gymnasium floor. COLOR PHOTO – CARMINE GALASSO/THE RECORD – 2 – (4s) Bergen County Sheriff Jack Terhune demonstrating a modular cell at the county jail annex on Wednesday. PHOTO – AL PAGLIONE/THE RECORD

March 12, 1992

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INMATE SUIT CHALLENGED; Case Against Bergen Jail Unproved, N.J. Says

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, March 11, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | 5 Star | NEWS | B05

The state has asked the federal judge presiding over a lawsuit by Bergen County Jail inmates to reduce overcrowding at the jail to dismiss the suit, arguing that the inmates failed to prove their case.

When the state Inmate Advocacy Office, which represents the prisoners, finished presenting its case on Feb. 24, it did not prove that “deliberate indifference” by the state and county led to cruel living conditions in the jail, Deputy Attorney General Catherine M. Brown said in her motion.

Brown cited a July 1990 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that made it tougher for inmates to sue to improve living conditions in prisons. Inmates must show not only inhumane conditions, but “deliberate indifference” by prison officials, the court said in a 5-4 decision.

Assistant Deputy Public Advocate Audrey Bomse said the state’s arguments in the motion for dismissal were without foundation.

“They are misreading the law,” Bomse said. “To show deliberate indifference, you don’t have to get inside a person’s mind. All you have to do is show knowledge for a long period of time, and failure to act.”

Moreover, her office has shown that conditions in the jail have worsened, she said.

The state is a co-defendant with the county in the 1988 lawsuit. Bergen County’s two jails house about 1,000 inmates in space meant for 423. About 400 of the inmates are state prisoners.

Overcrowding exacerbates violations of the inmates constitutional rights, the lawsuit maintains. The rights are eroded through conditions and policies affecting housing, health services, sanitation, and other areas.

Jerrold Binney, assistant to County Executive William “Pat” Schuber, said the county continues to defend itself in the suit. But he added that the state is still responsible for a significant part of the jail’s overcrowding.

“Regardless of the outcome of the case,” Binney said, “we will continue to push for relief from the state financially.”

When the three parties in the case failed to reach an out-of-court settlement, Ackerman appointed James A. Zazzali as special master to conduct fact-finding hearings and to make recommendations. A yearlong break in hearings so the parties could negotiate a settlement last year ended in failure, and the hearings resumed.

Ackerman is scheduled to hear Brown’s motions on April 13.

March 11, 1992

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INMATES BLAME FOOD FOR JAIL DISTURBANCE; Testify at Hearing on Class-Action Suit

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, February 8, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | Two Star B | NEWS | A03

Two Bergen County Jail inmates testified Friday that dissatisfaction with the jail’s food led to a hunger strike and a disturbance last month in which one prisoner was bitten three times by a guard dog.

Gary Jones and Gregory Cannell testified at the Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack at continuing hearings on a 1988 class-action lawsuit filed by the state Department of the Public Advocate to reduce overcrowding at the jail.

Jones and Cannell said that prisoners are dissatisfied with the quality of food and the size of the portions. Until the protest, they said, food often was served cold.

Jones said that, as a leader of a group of white inmates, he persuaded black and Puerto Rican inmates in his dormitory to go on a hunger strike Jan. 11. All 64 inmates from the dormitory skipped lunch that day, he said.

That evening, all but five inmates, who ate because they were hungry and were allowed to leave ahead of the others, dumped their food into the garbage and tried to rush out of the dining hall past corrections officers to return to their dormitory, Jones said.

Officers used dogs to quell the disturbance, Jones said. Cannell said that corrections officers cornered a group of inmates, handcuffed and beat him, then allowed a dog to bite him on his left hand and once on each arm.

As a result of the disturbance, 15 inmates were charged with rule violations, and Cannell and Howard Tucker each face a charge of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer.

Cannell, whose testimony will continue next week, hired Westwood attorney Leopold A. Monaco to represent him on the charge. Cannell said inmates had many complaints, ranging from how corrections officers treat them to physical conditions. Monaco said his client has been held in isolation since the incident as punishment.

County officials have maintained that the correction officers actions were proper, saying the inmates provoked the response by rushing for the doors.

The hearings resumed this week before James A. Zazzali, a special master appointed by U.S. District Judge Harold A. Ackerman in September 1989, when the parties failed to reach an out-of-court settlement. They are expected to last at least through February.

February 8, 1992

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JAIL STILL DEFICIENT, EXPERT TESTIFIES

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, January 30, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | 5 Star | NEWS | Page: B01

Conditions that led Bergen County Jail inmates to file a class-action suit against the county and state remain largely unchanged since a sanitary expert last inspected the jail more than a year ago, the expert testified Wednesday in Newark.

Ward Duel, who was hired by the state Department of the Public Advocate after it had filed the suit on behalf of the inmates, said that upon reinspection Wednesday he found some improvements in health and food services. Duel said other jail facilities and programs had deteriorated, however.

The suit, filed in 1988, charges that overcrowding in the jail and its annex exacerbates violations of inmates constitutional rights. Of 984 inmates currently in the jail which has a rated capacity of 423 inmates 379 are state-sentenced prisoners.

Duel, an Illinois consultant who has seen prison conditions in 33 states, inspected the jail and testified extensively in 1990 on what he saw there.

Wednesday morning he reinspected the jail to look for improvements; during a resumed hearing on the suit, he said that he did not find many.

Inmates still contend with filthy walls, mouse droppings, sewage dripping from overhead pipes in the kitchen, unsafe electrical wires, leaky fixtures, and toilets that back up, he testified.

For instance, damage done to the annex during a June 1990 riot has not been repaired, Duel said. In that riot, inmates ripped out urinals and sinks and smashed toilets and windows. Some dormitory and cell areas in the annex have worsened, he added. In one area, he said, he was unable to turn on 18 of 36 lights.

“I think one of the conditions that contributed to the lack of good housekeeping is that the building is so dark,” he said. “You need good lighting in order to have good housecleaning.

“My overall evaluation of the annex has not changed. I was disappointed to see the new pods deteriorating.”

One of the areas Duel said had improved, food services, was the focus of a Jan. 11 protest in which an inmate was bitten by a guard’s dog when corrections officers tried to restore order. Inmates involved in that protest are scheduled to testify in the hearing next week.

Neither Deputy Bergen County Counsel Murshell Johnson nor Deputy Attorney General Catherine M. Brown would comment on Duel’s testimony Wednesday. The hearings are scheduled to continue today and are expected to last at least through February.

Jerrold B. Binney, chief of staff to Bergen County Executive William “Pat” Schuber, said Tuesday that the county has set up a jail advisory committee that monitors the sanitary and safety conditions cited and is developing a master plan to develop long-term solutions to problems in the jail.

Talks to settle the suit out of court broke down late last year. The hearings are being conducted by James R. Zazzali, a special master appointed by U.S. District Judge Harold A. Ackerman in September 1989 to make recommendations based on the hearings.

January 30, 1992

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VICTORY FOR JAIL COULD BE A LOSS; Hearings Resume on Overcrowding

By michael o. allenHomepage, The RecordNo Comments

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, January 29, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | 5 Star | NEWS | Page B01

In an ironic twist to a class-action suit seeking to reduce overcrowding at the Bergen County Jail, a high-ranking county official says the county could wind up a loser if it wins the case.

Jerrold B. Binney, chief of staff to county Executive William “Pat” Schuber, said Tuesday that the state might walk away from the jail’s problems, if the recommendation of special master James R. Zazzali goes against the Department of the Public Advocate. It filed the federal suit in behalf of jail inmates in 1988.

The state and county are defendants in the case. Hearings on the suit were scheduled to resume today, after negotiations on an out-of-court settlement reached an impasse late last year.

Of 984 inmates in the jail which has a rated capacity of 423 379 are state prisoners, said a spokeswoman for Bergen County Sheriff Jack Terhune.

Binney, who has been designated by Schuber to speak for the county on the issue, said that the county has maintained all along that the state is to blame for the overcrowding and a host of other problems at the jail.

If the state and county win, he added, the state would have no incentive to decrease the number of state prisoners in the jail, or to increase its per-diem subsidy for state prisoners.

Binney says the county may sue the state to get it to address the county’s concerns.

“We’ve already done that in one instance, on the per-diem issue,” he said. “We’ve joined the Gloucester County suit on the per-diem cost because, right now, it is draining our treasury.

“We get $45 a day from the state,” he went on. “That’s what we’ve been getting for about 12 years, and everybody knows the costs have been going up. We feel that at a minimum at a minimum it’s costing us $65 a day to house those state prisoners, and that’s not even including some capital costs.”

The Bergen County freeholders are to consider the per-diem issue at their next meeting, deciding how much to ask of the court in the Gloucester case.

Deputy Attorney General Patricia Leuzzi, representing the state Corrections Department in the suit, said she had not been notified that Bergen County joined the Gloucester suit.

Leuzzi also said she was reluctant to discuss the issues discussed during settlement talks, but that the state does not dispute that the per-diem rate needs to increase. The state Legislature is responsible for such an increase, she said.

“The budget is limited,” she said. “The governor and the Legislature are making difficult decisions on what can be funded. Things are being cut back. There are complaints from every constituent.”

Deputy Public Advocate Audrey Bomse, who is handling the class-action suit, said the state deliberately overloads the county jails in order to avoid having its prisons declared unconstitutional.

Bomse said that overcrowding exacerbates the violation of inmates constitutional rights, and that an expert for the public advocate would testify today that, with the exception of health care, “almost next to nothing has been done to ameliorate” problems at the jail.

Among the problem areas cited were lack of exercise, poor lighting, improper sanitation, inadequate protection of inmates from other inmates, and a rising level of violence between inmates and corrections officers.

Corrections Department spokesman James Stabile said that overcrowding results from state prisons taking in more inmates than they let out. In 1991, for instance, 11,559 inmates came into state prisons and 8,216 were paroled, leaving a monthly average surplus of 279 inmates.

New Jersey is one of only five states in the nation not under a court order to drastically reduce its prison population, said Betsy Bernat, a spokeswoman for the National Prison Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. The project seeks to reduce prison populations.

Bernat said the reasons vary among the five states. Vermont, Montana, and North Dakota have no prison overcrowding largely because they are sparsely populated states, and Minnesota doesn’t because it imprisons only the most dangerous criminals.

She agreed with Bomse that New Jersey, which operates at about 135 percent of its prison capacity, was able to stave off a court order by “backing up its prisoners into the county jail system.”

January 29, 1992

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JAIL NEGOTIATIONS BOG DOWN OVER WHO SHOULD PAY

By michael o. allenHomepage, The RecordNo Comments

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, December 21, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | Two Star B |NEWS | Page A03

Negotiations over a lawsuit aimed at reducing overcrowding at the Bergen County Jail have reached an impasse over funding, the state Public Advocate’s Office says.

The office is expected to go back to court to pursue a class action suit filed on behalf of prisoners against the state and Bergen County in 1988. A hearing is scheduled for Jan. 3.

Negotiations, which had the advocate on one side and the state Attorney General’s Office and Bergen County on the other, had been going on for a year. Many issues, including a cap on the number of inmates, had been resolved, said Audrey Bomse, assistant deputy public advocate.

However, the talks broke down when the state and county feuded over who would pay the costs of meeting the terms of any agreement, Bomse said. “The hang-up is not coming from my end; the hang-up is coming from the county and the state. Both are saying the other should foot the bill,” she said.

State Corrections Department spokesman James Stabile declined to comment on the suit Friday. Bomse said the state maintains it does not have the money or space to move inmates who would be squeezed out of the jail as a result of the settlement. The county, however, says it could not make the improvements needed to meet the agreement at the current level of state funding.

Deputy Bergen County Counsel Murshell Johnson, who, with Bomse, holds out the possibility that an agreement can be reached before the court action resumes, confirmed that money is an issue holding up the settlement.

“You’ve got the executive order that gives the [corrections] commissioner power to house state prisoners in county facilities. However, the funding that is provided to house them is totally inadequate,” she said, adding that the $45 a day the state pays for each prisoner falls short of the $63 it costs the county to house an inmate.

Although it has a rated capacity of 423 inmates, the Bergen County Jail has 1,034. Under a state executive order signed in 1981 and renewed every six months, Bergen County is required to take 72 state prisoners. About 400 inmates are state prisoners.

Bomse said the state and county basically have agreed on a capacity of 800 inmates.

December 21, 1991

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