BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) -- Investigators from the US Department of Justice will be at the Erie County Holding Center on Monday and Tuesday, looking into its suicide prevention procedures. They'll be touring those portions of the facility and interviewing some inmates and employees.
US District Judge William Skretny has ruled the Erie County's attorney and staff can be present when employees are questioned by investigators but inmates have the choice not to have them in the room during the interview. It's something the county disagrees with and is filing with Judge Skretny, asking him to reconsider the inmate interview process. Depending on what the response is, the county may appeal the decision to a higher court. "The County of Erie has nothing to hide nor have we ever had anything to hide," Erie County's attorney Cheryl Green said. "We just want the federal government to follow the same rules that everybody else does. Moving forward as we have every step of this litigation with the Erie County taxpayer in mind, and filing motion with the court seeking that they go further."
"In the case of inmates the Department of Justice can interview inmates without the county attorney present," Erie County Executive Chris Collins said. "The county attorney can then talk to those inmates if they're so inclined... and I guess like anything else we can respectfully disagree with that part of his ruling."
Several county legislators say they hope the judge sticks with his decision and even extends the privacy option to the employees. "I'm glad the judge recognized the fact that inmates would be more forthcoming and more honest when they don't have to look over their shoulder to see who is there monitoring, taking notes," Erie County Legislator Betty Jean Grant said. "I think they'll get a more honest answer of what's really going on... the employees need that privacy as well."
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