Westchester County, U.S. Attorney Agree on Jail Improvements

Editor’s Note: Patch is re-running this story in case you missed it the first time around.

An agreement has been reached between United States Attorney Preet Bharara and the county concerning the Westchester County Jail, which resolves the fed’s findings “regarding the Jail’s use of force against inmates, its use of isolation as a method of discipline for minors incarcerated at the jail, and its provision of inadequate medical and mental health care to inmates.”

The county has agreed to independent observation by an appointed monitor over a three-year period while it makes improvements to the facility.

“As I have emphasized many times before, within the walls of a correctional facility does not mean outside the protection of the Constitution,” said Bharara in a statement. “Jails have a constitutional obligation to take reasonable steps to protect the safety of inmates and to provide humane conditions of confinement. This agreement, and the commitment on the part of the County to comply with its terms, are important steps toward ensuring that inmates at Westchester County Jail are treated in a manner consistent with the Constitution.”

According to Bharara, in 2009, the feds ”issued a letter setting forth the Government’s findings regarding constitutional violations at the Jail. Key findings included that the Jail had failed to adequately protect inmates from physical harm caused by inappropriate and excessive force used by staff and failed to provide adequate medical and mental health care, particularly with respect to minors housed in isolation in the punitive segregation unit of the Jail, all resulting in unconstitutional living conditions.”

The jail complex in Valhalla, which can house up to 1,800 inmates, is currently the only large jail in New York with dual accreditation by the American Correctional Association and the National Commission on Correction Health Care, according to County Executive Rob Astorino.

Over the past several years, the jail’s inmate population has been significantly reduced to approximately 1,200 inmates by the county’s efforts to find safe and cost-effective alternatives to incarceration, such as supervised pre-trial release, credit card bail and other means of supervision.

“I am proud of the significant progress we have made, not only to address the DOJ’s concerns, but more so to maintain Westchester’s status as home to one of the top correctional agencies in the country,” said Correction Commissioner Kevin Cheverko in a statement. “Great credit goes to our workforce of nearly 900 individuals, from our correction officers, to our supervisors, teachers and nurses who have adopted, implemented and embraced these changes.”

Cheverko the county has already begun to make the following improvements at the jail:

• In partnership with its inmate health care provider and the county’s Department of Community Mental Health, the jail maintains a robust mental health program, which benefits from a new state-of-the art housing unit for mentally ill offenders.
• In 2014, the jail’s Special Housing Unit (a disciplinary block) was reviewed by the New York State Commission of Correction, the oversight agency for jails statewide, and earned a “merited commendation” from the commission, which noted mental health operations in particular.
• The jail has instituted a headquarters-based Use of Force Review Board to review all use-of-force incidents by staff.
• Through capital projects, the jail has improved staff and inmate safety by implementing more than 1,000 cameras facility-wide.
• In response to retirements, the department has maintained appropriate staffing levels by hiring more than 250 new correction officers from various walks of life around Westchester and the Hudson Valley.

“Our approach from the beginning has been to work collaboratively with the Justice Department to institute policies that protect the safety of our correction officers, our inmates and the public,” said Astorino in a statement. “This agreement recognizes the good work done by our Department of Correction and lifts the threat of costly litigation.”