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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOMM - Meeting Minutes - 7-P - 7-9-1973 - PRISON BOARD353 �mejSALARY MINUTE BOOK BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSY►".VANIA MICHAEL R. FLYNN, JOHN P. BEVEC, JOHN MAZZA, COMMISSIONERS M[nute No. 7-P Office of the County Commissioners Washington, Pa., July 9, 1973 A special meeting of the Prison Board of the County of Washington was held in the Commissioners' Conference Room at 11:40 a, m. , Monday, July 9, 1973, with the following merry - bers being present: Deputy Controller Criquellion; Sheriff Debreczeni; Judge DiSalle; Commis- sioner Flynn; Judge Gladden; Commissioner Jones; Judge Simmons;, and Judge Sweet. Absent being: District Attorney Costa, Judge Curran; and Commissioner Paluso; Also present being: Warden Roupe; Assistant Solicitor Gilmore; Reporter Robertson of The Observer -Reporter; Mr. Earl Bugaile of WKEG; Mr. Jack Merdian of WJPA; Administrative Assistant and Acting Chief Clerk Whalen; Mrs. June Lilley of The Canonsburg Daily Notes. Judge Gladden: Before we go into the meeting itself, unlike some others I do not want to appear in any way of having a cover up. We are going to meet in the open and decide and discuss the matters that have resulted not only last weekend but in preceding months of 1973 and 72. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss those openly, find out facts. If there are questions that anyone has, members of the board or the Warden, Secondly, I would welcome the press here, . i would only suggest or request that if there is any security item that is apparent from this meet- ing that you be cautious in reporting it, we don't want an invitation to others to utilize any escape route that might become apparent. Let me say this that in the Washington Observer of July 6, I noted that a request has been made by Commissioner Paluso to have me report on the prison preach that occurred on June 23. I am certainly willing to do that and intended to do that at the next Board meeting, and I will read that report now. Let me say to all of you that we are all members of the Prison Board by statute and by the office that we hold, I am . serving as Chair- man of the Board by election of the group, my door is open at all times and I am willing to re- ceive either personally or by telephone any member of the Board who has a request to make of me at any time, Judge Gladden then read a report directed to the Members of the Prison Board in reference to the Prison Breach that occurred on June 23, 1973. Judge Gladden stated that after talking with the Warden, he is satisfied that the events which lead up to the jail break were the result of human error and exercise of bad judgment, and that the error on the part of the security officers involved does not reflect an overall problem with respect to the physical security of the jail. The security at the jail has been commended by the Commonwealth, however there is a man power problem which can be a potential security problem. Judge Gladden stated that he was ad- -Tised as recently as July 5 by Warden Roupe that three additional guards are to be hired for his staff. On June 23, 1973, there were two guards present at the jail. There are four men assigne3 354 SALARY MINU'TE,,BoOK BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA MICHAEL R. FLYNN, JOHN P. BEVEC, JOHN MAZZA, COMMISSIONERS to night detail and generally three guards on duty. On the night of the prison breach, one of the night guards was in the hospital and another called in sick. It is very difficult to obtain qualified guards for the jail and especially for the night detail. Judge Gladden stated that he and Warden Roupe discussed the possibility of suspending the two guards who were responsible for the breach of prison security, but they have concluded that the incident was one of negligence and not malfeasance. In conclusion, Judge Gladden stated that he is satisfied that all prison employ - ees again have been properly instructed with respect to the possession of keys when they enter the main cell block and on all other regulations pertaining to security. Judge Gladden stated that he received an inspection evaluation report on the Wash- ington County Prison from the Bureau of Correction, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Depart- ment of Justice dated May 31, 1973, and noted that on page 5 of the report, custody and security, the County received a favorable report. Said report is available to all interested parties. Judge Gladden: Before we open the meeting to comments and questions, I want to say that there are several matters which I think the Prison Board should consider. Among these are the security system at the Jail, the personnel, particularly the guards and what we might wish to recommend with respect to their retention and with respect to their pay. I think that we should also consider the general facilities of the Prison, the retention of penitentiary prisoners with respect to those who are brought back here for trial and how long they should be kept. Policy with respect to those who plead guilty to serious felonies or who have been found guilty of serious felonies and our obligation here on the local level to house these individuals. I think that this is a matter that we should consider objectively and to that end I would appoint as a special commit- tee for the purpose of evaluating these matters together with other matters. Judge DiSalle from the Courts, Commissioner Paluso from the Commissioners, and Sheriff Debreczeni. I would ask that you meet with Warden Roupe and conduct whatever investigation you gentlemen feel might be necessary and relevant and to report to the Prison Board on or before our next meeting'. If you need additional time, this would be acceptable. Now those are the steps I llitend to take but in order to dispel rumors, conjecture and comments I think that it would be wise if we aired any questions that we might have with respect to the break that occurred this past weekend. Warden Roupe has material here and I am certain is willing to answer any questions the Board might have. Warden Roupe stated that man power has been a problem for some time at the jail and they haven't been able to find good men to act as guards. Warden Roupe then gave an accounting of the June 23, 1973, prison break. 7, 1973. Warden Roupe further reported on the Matthews jail break which occurred on July fl 355 �P,s0/0 90,W A SALARY MINUTE BOOK BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA MICHAEL R. FLYNN, JOHN P. BEYEC, JOHN MAZZA, COMMISSIONERS Judge Sweet: How often or on what routine are the inner cells in the room that Matthews was in checked? Warden Roupe: Every hour, Judge. Judge Sweet: The reason I asked, it is almost inconceivable that both of these sawing jobs could have been done after midnight that night. So at least some of it must have been visible for some hours if somebody had rattled the bars of the cage. Sheriff Debreczeni: I can answer that question. Before we set out to look for these fellows, I took a few minutes out and we went up into the cell area and I think it would be advisable if the news nnedia realized that the cells we are talking about are 5 individual cells, in other words, these fellows aren't all together. They have to come through a door that is operated with a power lock from the outside so they had no access as far as the Matthews fellow is concerned. - , However, the first two sections of the bars I checked, those bars were not sawed that night be- cause we found soap that made it look like it was in tact. In other words, the first two bars had soap and you could set these bars up and it looked like they were in perfect shape. My observa- tion was that these were rusted and the others were clean. I have the blade, I left it in my desk. It is a commercial type blade that is used and is put out by the Minnesota Company. I checked with some fellows that understand these blades and they could be used in a power tool, a jigsaw type saw, naturally he used it with his hand. I just have a piece of it, that is all I found. I don't want to get to a point where we are going to give our hand away, -the escapee naturally fled with a paper bag and I would think he took the blades with him and he also took the two bars with him to use for protection until he gets something else. Judge Gladden: What the purpose of this meeting was is to air any questions you have with re- spect to the jail break that occurred this weekend and any other matters of general importance with respect to the physical security of the Jail. Judge Sweet: Sheriff, apparently Matthews had in his cell two or more blades of some size which a shake down might have disclosed and the bars in your opinion were sawed and held together wits soap for long enought if somebody routinely went along whacking the bars the imposture would have become visible and that situation may have prevailed as long as a day or two? From when he first started to saw until he got out, can you theorize as.to how long it was? Sheriff Debreczeni: Yes, that could have been a couple of days, that could have been a week. Judge Sweet: Now, how often do people go through this room where these 5 cells are and look around? Warden Roupe: They are supposed to go in every hour, or if there is any noise._ They're fed three times a day and then they go up and get the eating utensils,. the spoons, the bowls, etc... Everything is counted that goes in, the guard chehli s the amount in and out. ., , ; 356 Pk► s,,j JoAy6 b S A L A R Y M IN U:T E '­B A3 Q K BOARD, OF- COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVA4N,IA MICHAEL R. FLYNN, JOHN P. BEVEC, JOHN MAZZA, COMMISSIONERS Judge Sweet: When was the last shake down in the cell? Mr. Roupe: We had a shake down Thursday and the guards go through daily, they are supposed to. Mr. Jones: When you say shake down Warden, are you referring to the person or the cell? Mr. Roupe: The person and the cell. The personal belongings in the cell. When we get the recreation yard, then we will have strip searches for all and go into prison clothing. The strip search is the only good search. Items can be missed on a prisoner, they miss them in many places. Judge DiSalle: You have 'an inspection schedule Warden as you,said, certain things are to be done every hour. Warden Roupe: Yes, and the guards sign these. _ Judge DiSalle: What does your schedule show for Friday night, they rattled the bars, checked the cages and all? Warden Roupe: Now, they didn't tell me ,they rattled the bars, Judge, they made their rounds on the outside of the cells. Judge DiSalle: But the schedule calls for a check on the condition_ of the bars. (Warden Roupe stated that he has a written report of the inspection, of f_ the cells the night of the break but did not have it with him at the meeting) Judge DiSalle: Well, wasn't the Prison Board informed not too long ago that every window in the jail was covered with an escape -proof material? That was my understanding. I can't under- stand how this man was able to cut through the screen or why a screen was there that was able to cut through, I guess is my question. Because I understood that every window was covered with this type of material that you couldn't cut through or couldn't break. Mr. Rioupe:-r, Well I thought this new material this screen, you could cut through it. Mr. Jones: Well let me ask this Warden, when I arrived 'on the scene it was brought to my attention that the prison was brought to maximum security because of the murderers we had here in Washington County. We had spent extra money for this, I'm talking about the television cameras and things such as this. Don't you have somebody watching these cameras? Mr. Roupe: The cameras only show the inside of the bull pen and the range. The cameras do not show the outer area, windows or cells. Mr. Jones: What are these cameras up here for then, on the side? Mr. Roupe: They are for the outside of the jail, which are good. Mr. Jones: Do you have someone watching all the time? Mr. Roupe: Oh yes, they are there in the office right in the corner. Judge Simmons: Was this man in personal contact with anyone? Sheriff Debreczeni: We checked that out Judge and it is a matter of investigation. J