Prison reform advocates clamoring for civilian oversight of the Albany County jail brought their concerns before the Albany County Legislature this week.
The advocates say there are big problems at the county correctional facility. Speaking during public comment at Monday night's legislature meeting, Freedom Unshackled founder Roni Minter claimed Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple knows all about the issues. She said "So what you have at that jail and proud boys running around brutally beating men and women, and they're living in horrific conditions."
Minter and other activists say inmates are treated poorly, repeatedly subjected to violence and have been denied medical care.
Citing these concerns, Roni and Albany resident Tom Ellis are among a group urging legislators to establish a Civilian Oversight Review Board of the facility run under the county sheriff’s purview.
"The Review Board will be good for the county, correctional officers and inmates, and especially in the years after it is up and running," said Ellis. "The review board will examine allegations of abuse and neglect, make determinations of fact, and perhaps equally important, make policy recommendations to prevent and minimize future problems, increasing safety for workers and inmates. The review board might urge changes in the recruitment of correctional officers, their initial training and continuing education, access to mental health, safe staffing and wages.”
Ellis says all of the county’s more than 300,000 residents can benefit from a well-functioning civilian oversight review board.
But Monday night's County Legislature session prompted a response by Republican County legislators Patty Lockart, of the 26th district, and Zach Collins, of the 37th district, who issued a joint statement saying "The county does not have the authority to create a 'Civilian Oversight Board' for the jail.
Lockart spoke with WAMC: "Sheriff Apple is a separate elected official. He's not a municipal police officer, commissioner, chief who answers to a mayor. He answers to the voters and the residents of Albany County and they're the ones who elected him, and he has my trust and he's had the trust of Albany County voters for the last decade and a half."
Lockart doesn't think the review board idea has enough traction among legislators to go forward. And the idea comes as the city of Albany's Community Police Review Board has recently been at odds with city leaders.
Still, Democratic 6th ward county representative Sam Fein says he's listening to the advocates and believes oversight and accountability over the county jail is important and necessary.
"Now I know that there's some questions you know, legal concerns, about exactly what type of authority we have in the county legislature to do this, but I think what we need to do is, instead of saying/approaching it from what we can't do, we need to find a way to look at what we can do. What type of oversight structure that we can create that's within the legal framework," said Fein.
The Albany Times Union reported that Sheriff Apple was dismissive of advocates’ demands, telling the paper “their allegations have been investigated and disproven.” Apple did not respond to a request for comment from WAMC.
