Dutchess County Jail Ranked in Top 5 Worst in State
Severe overcrowding, developmental delays, inmate suicides, and barely any medical care for inmates at Dutchess County Jail is the reason why New York State Commission of Correction named it one of the worst jails in the state, according to a recent report.
Other contenders of this report included Rikers Island, Greene County, Erie County, and Onondaga Justice Center alongside Dutchess. Inmates at these facilities are 80 percent men and women who have mental health problems or substance abuse issues, while others housed are men and women awaiting their trials for misdemeanors.
The Dutchess County Jail report covered legal violations, such as illegally charging inmates a fee to notarize documents and denying them visits with family members. Mandatory fire inspections have gone unscheduled and medical care for inmates were neglected.
Other controversial factors included lack of daily outdoor exercise for inmates, not providing proper education to minors, and an improper commissary system to purchase items and services. The nursing staff also refused to recognize mental illness of the inmates and take the mandatory precautions.
Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro recognizes the problem at the facility saying, “This report affirms what we believe it is inadequate which is why we are replacing it, and the report reaffirms what I’ve been saying the day I took office.”
However, the most recent problem was found in 2016–2017, where seven inmate attacks took place on staff and nine suicide attempts. The understaffed jail has officers working 12–16-hour shifts at a time where the 405 inmates are currently housed.
The state’s Commission of Correction (COC) conducts these reports, reviews and evaluations annually. Undersheriff Kirk Imperati said, “We were taken a little by surprise with this COC report,” he mentions that other jail administrators were surprised as well, “We are not happy about the report, but we have a positive relationship with the COC and we know we can iron all these issues.”
This issue has also been brought to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s attention and his chief counsel, Alphonso David released a statement on the new jail and how this new system will run. “The governor’s vision for New York as the progressive capital of the nation is not rhetorical, but rather results driven,” David said, “A fair, safe, and humane criminal justice system is essential for our state, and we will make it such.”
In order to fix this “decade’s old problem,” as Molinaro calls it, a new $192 million new jail facility is set to open in 2021. He said, “We approached the problem aggressively, from multiple angles, seeking to holistically improve our criminal justice system and design a facility that can help individuals get their lives back on track while ensuring public safety and providing long-term taxpayer savings.”
The new facility l will supposedly save taxpayers more than $5 million annually beginning in 2021 and will also include Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) for law enforcement and staff. In addition, inmates will also receive the proper help they need with the County’s RESTART program, that will offer cognitive therapy for high-risk offenders and aid them with resourceful community connections when they return home.
