CORRECTION OFFICER

"CRIMINALLY CHARGED"

KINGSTON - Despite two recent accusations of correction officer misconduct at the Ulster County Jail, authorities say they are not many cases of wrongdoing by jail guards and that it would be difficult to pinpoint particular ones.

Nonetheless, every accusation made by an inmate or the public about work at the jail or a particular employee is investigated, the county sheriff said.

"Our corrections officers do a fantastic job under the worst conditions that I've seen in my 34 years with this department," said Sheriff J. Richard Bockelmann. "We have about 2,000 discipline hearings here with inmates a year. That's about six or seven a day. There's six or seven problems that we have with inmates inside that facility on each day that our corrections officers handle."

BRAD Ebel, superintendent of the Sheriff's Office's Corrections Division, said it would be difficult to pinpoint cases of misconduct, aside from the two recent accusations. And cases of misconduct by jail guards are "few and far between," the superintendent said.

"It (misconduct) tarnishes our image, and we strive to maintain a good image out there, especially in the public's eye," Ebel said.

TWO allegations of corrections officers abusing inmates at the Ulster County Jail have been investigated since November 2003, and both resulted in disciplinary action.

In November, a corrections officer was arrested on charges he struck an inmate on three separate occasions in September and October. Jon Haight, 28, of Salem Street, Port Ewen, was charged with three counts of misdemeanor assault, was served with departmental charges of misconduct and was suspended without pay for 30 days.

Both the criminal and administrative charges are still pending, but Bockelmann said Haight is back on the job because Civil Service rules mandate that he not be off the payroll for more than 30 days.

In February, a probationary corrections officer at the jail was fired following an investigation into allegations he assaulted an inmate. Joseph E. Rougier Jr., 29, of Kingston, was accused of striking an inmate in the thigh with his knee two times on Feb. 7. He was served with a letter of termination following an administrative and criminal investigation.

"I'M THANKFUL that we've been able to identify these two and take corrective actions," Bockelmann said of Haight and Rougier. "And mind you, that (in) this last incident (involving Rougier), a corrections officer came forward, which says a lot about the staff here."

Bockelmann said it was a colleague of Rougier's who alerted the Sheriff's Office about the February incident.

Bockelmann noted that corrections officers are authorized to use physical force in certain situations, such as bringing an inmate into compliance or stopping a fight. And he said those types of incidents sometimes result is accusations against officers.

But "these two (Haight and Rougier) seem(ed) to be unprovoked," the sheriff said.

"There's laws that we have to abide by," Bockelmann said. "And ... where there's rules and regulations that employees and corrections officers and deputies have to live by, from time to time, they're violated. And we address those."

"WE investigate each and every one of them," Bockelmann said of accusations against jail guards.

The sheriff said accusations are investigated to determine whether there was, in fact, any misconduct and to allow the department to review its policies and procedures to make sure they're on track. At times, additional or different training is found to be needed, Bockelmann said.

Once an investigation is complete, the results are sent to the Ulster County District Attorney's Office and the state commissioner of corrections for review, said Undersheriff George Wood.

"These things are not just being investigated and reviewed at our level," Wood said. "They're looked at by other people who have the opportunity to judge."

DESPITE the accusations against Haight and Rougier, Bockelmann said he has no concerns about the safe and orderly operation of the Ulster County Jail, which currently is on Golden Hill in Kingston but soon will relocate to nearby Albert Street. He said the jail officers are highly professional and do excellent work in the face of risk and danger.

"The way we try to minimize that (danger) here and with any division of the sheriff's department ... is to give these men and women the best possible training and the best possible equipment," Bockelmann said.

"I'm in the driver's seat, and that's what the men and women are going to get, the best, because I walked those floors turning those keys as a deputy sheriff and a corrections officer, so I know what it's like."

THE APPLICATION process to become a corrections officer includes passing a Civil Service exam, undergoing an extensive background check and passing agility and drug tests. Once hired, an applicant is required to take training courses sanctioned by the state commissioner of corrections. And upon successful completion of that course, the applicant goes through a four-week field training program in which he or she learns directly from an experienced officer. Once that training is complete, new officers are placed on probation for their first year of employment.

"The entire hiring process is completed once they successfully completed all that and their 52-week probationary time," Bockelmann said. "Once that occurs, then they become permanent."

"One of the big things that they do concentrate on is training," said Ray Acevedo, the jail's warden.

Ebel, the county corrections superintendent, noted that officers are given additional training each year as a refresher in such areas as essential services, ethics and sexual harassment, as well as first aid and the use of force.

BOCKELMANN said the new jail, part of the Ulster County Law Enforcement Center, will reduce many of the daily problems that corrections officers face with inmates in the current building.

In parts of the new jail, which is to open early next year, corrections officers will be posted within the inmate population, rather than outside bars, making it easier to spot trouble quickly.

"They will be better able to control the inmates and resolve problems before they start," the sheriff said.

"I think the fact that the 'direct supervision' model is behavior-driven, the inmates are going to be better behaved because that's what gets them the status of that type of housing unit," Wood said. "The inmates that are still disciplinary problems still have 'hard cells' to go to."

Ebel added that in the current jail, all inmates are entitled to the same things regardless of classification levels, but "in the new facility ... custody levels will determine what programs you go to and what we're going to let you have."

THE CURRENT jail houses a maximum of 277 inmates and employs 128 full-time corrections officers and about 12 part-time officers. The new facility will house up to 500 inmates if double-bunking is used, and housing areas will have their own contained recreation yards.

Due to crowding at the current jail, indoor recreation areas have been turned into housing units, requiring all inmates to be taken outside for their exercise time each day, regardless of the weather.

The new jail also will have a camera in each housing unit and others throughout the facility and will do away with the current system of voice recognition to open doors at stairwells.

"I believe it will be a safer environment," Bockelmann said. "I think it will reduce stress not only for the inmates, but the people who work there.

"We're peace officers and police officers, and we have to maintain the public's trust," the sheriff said. "They have to know that if something does happen, that we're going to take care of it. When you start losing the public's trust in the job you're doing is when we fall apart. And we're not going to let that happen."

C.B.C.I SAYS:

ALL PERSONS ACCUSED OF CRIMES ARE INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT, IN A COURT OF LAW