CCUA board endures another tense meeting, solicitor rebuked over phone thedailyjournal.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thedailyjournal.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
“In other words, members of the supervisory staff should work ‘down’ and man posts for this 24/7 operation, including weekends and holidays,” the letter states. “A reasonable person, such as an experienced warden, would mandate such occurrences but apparently such course of action has either been simply neglected and/or intentionally avoided.”
County Commissioners Director Joseph Derella responded that Alterman was being “disingenuous” about how staff assignments are made and is trying to pit two unions against each other.
“As an experienced labor relations attorney, Stuart Alterman is well aware that the Cumberland County Department of Corrections does not have discretion to reassign superior officers, who are members of the Fraternal Order of Police, without going through a mandated negotiation process,” Derella stated.
District Judge Noel Hillman started last week taking testimony in preparation for deciding if the case can proceed. The hearing resumed on Monday, via Zoom, with county attorney Greg Zeff questioning Warden Charles Warren for several hours.
Inmates, who have court-appointed attorneys, are attempting to prove there was a “deliberate indifference” by jail administrators to their health and safety rights.
Cumberland County counters that it did the best it could in the face of an unprecedented emergency, supply shortages, and shifting medical guidance.
The county attorney on Monday admitted that two inmates who were diagnosed with the COVID-19 virus were housed for a period with inmates who had tested clean for the disease. The inmates had been kept together, or “cohorted,” to be tested and to await test results.
No dismissal in Cumberland jail federal case, warden defends policy courierpostonline.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from courierpostonline.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Despite the ruling, Local 231 President Victor Bermudez remains suspended without pay in connection to a second, unrelated disciplinary case from last year.
Bermudez has continued, while suspended, leading protests and legal action against the county over its plan to close the county jail here and lay off most officers.
State Office of Administrative Law Judge Elaine Frick issued her decision in the campaign ad case against Bermudez on Jan. 21. The Civil Service Commission reviewed her ruling and voted to adopt her findings last month.
Frick dismissed some charges against Bermudez but sustained four charges. She imposed a 180-day suspension without pay, saying firing was too harsh, and ordered him reinstated. He also has rights to three to four months of back pay.