Editorial: Suffolk, look at jail crowding
A file photo of the Yaphank jail, taken from outside the check-in station. (Feb. 18, 2004) Credit: Newsday/Daniel Goodrich
Exploding toilets, pervasive sewage, contaminated water and food, mold, and rats. Those are some of the conditions that a lawsuit alleges inmates endure in Suffolk County's jails in Yaphank and Riverhead.
Not good news for new County Executive Steve Bellone. The county is a defendant, with Sheriff Vincent DeMarco and two undersheriffs. But Bellone should look at the positive side: It gives him a chance to launch a serious examination of the reasons why Suffolk's jails are always so overcrowded, mostly with people awaiting trial who can't afford bail. What changes in bail and other policies are needed to reduce the crowding?
The suit resulted from about 100 inmate complaints sent to the federal court that covers Long Island. The court alerted the New York Civil Liberties Union, which had previously sued Suffolk over jail conditions in 1974. The NYCLU filed a class action last week on behalf of six inmates -- with pro bono help from the law firm of Shearman & Sterling.
The county is likely to argue that the state's prison and jail watchdog agency, the Commission of Correction, wouldn't have given Suffolk permission to house 500 people more than capacity if conditions were as bad as the suit alleges. That will be settled in court. The bigger question is why Suffolk always has so much crowding.
That's something Bellone should explore, since he runs the county now named in this lawsuit. He should use it to drive change.
