Erie County Responds to Baseless Department of Justice Report

September 11, 2009

Erie County Attorney Cheryl A. Green has submitted a letter, on behalf of Erie County, strongly refuting the baseless allegations leveled by the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ).  In an effort to protect Erie County taxpayers from having to spend countless dollars on unnecessary and non-mandated services and programs, Erie County has refused to allow the DOJ into the Erie County Holding Center and Erie County Correctional Facility on a undefined fishing expedition. 

In her letter, Green maintains that Erie County is providing the appropriate level of care and highlights the fact that the DOJ report on Erie County’s facilities is based on hearsay and fictionalized events passed off as reality.

“The law is clear that prisoners cannot expect, and the County is not required to provide, the amenities, conveniences and services of a good hotel,” said Green.  “However, Erie County is committed to providing, does provide, and will continue to provide, constitutionally adequate conditions of confinement to prisoners incarcerated in our facilities.  It is the position of the County that the DOJ has improperly utilized fictional events and incomplete information as facts to reach an improper and predetermined conclusion.”

In her letter to the DOJ, Green points to the following facts:

• •The DOJ has no legal foundation to support its allegations related to Erie County.

• •Since 2004, Erie County taxpayers have spent nearly $370 million to run both facilities.

• •The suicide rate at both facilities is much lower than the national average for local jails and is lower than the rate in New York State prisons.

 •Erie County meets, and in some instances exceeds, the constitutionally minimum requirements for providing medical services to inmates.

• •Erie County works diligently to constantly improve the conditions of, and the protocols and practices within both facilities.

“Erie County will not allow Washington, DC bureaucrats to impose a level of care to people confined in our facilities that is not available to the hardworking taxpayers of our community.  The DOJ is acting as a prisoners’ advocacy group in demanding that the County operate its facilities well above the constitutionally minimum standards.”

 Erie County is committed to continuing to work in good faith with the DOJ to resolve their differences.  Green’s full letter is posted here.