Westmoreland County prison board member protests settlement
One member of the Westmoreland County Prison Board said he was concerned to learn that commissioners settled a lawsuit brought against the facility by an inmate who claimed guards there beat him.
“While I can see it is indeed their decision to make, I feel that it sets a bad precedent for this institution,” said county Controller Jeff Balzer during the public comment portion of the meeting. “It’s not supportive of our corrections officers who followed procedures in this case and most certainly will encourage the filing of more actions by inmates who have nothing to lose in doing so.”
The commissioners unanimously approved the out-of-court settlement of $25,000 at their meeting this month with Kevin Kolling, 68, of Hempfield Township. Kolling’s suit alleged he was beaten by guards in late 2014 for covering his window with paper. Kolling, who has a prosthetic left leg, said he suffered a broken left clavicle and dislocated shoulder in the incident.
Balzer added that the prison has had what he called a “near perfect” record of winning cases or getting them dismissed.
In addition, Balzer said he was troubled by the way he learned of the settlement.
“Further, as a prison board member whose job it is to oversee the operation of the prison, I have a big problem that the non-commissioner members of this board learned of this decision while attending the public meeting or by reading it in the new media.”
Balzer proposed that a briefing by county Solicitor Melissa Guiddy become a permanent part of the monthly meeting agenda – in executive session, enabling board members to give input prior to the commissioners voting on settlements to lawsuits that involve the prison.
He said this is especially significant because prison board members are sometimes named as defendants in these actions.
In other business, the prison board approved a number of personnel moves at the meeting, including revoking the part-time appointment of Lee Harris and accepting the resignation of records clerk Valerie Tantlinger. The board also approved the hiring of part-time probationary correctional officers Aubrey Holewinski, Chris Kelley, Riley Quairiere, Audrey Taylor and Aaron Slonecki.
Warden John Walton said that the prison has now filled 29 out of 31 part-time positions. The prison will be participating in two job fairs at Westmoreland County Community College in March – a law enforcement fair on March 18 and medical job fair on March 28. Walton said in the future, he would like to plan an on-site job fair at the Westmoreland County Prison that would include correctional and medical job opportunities within the facility. The event would include a tour of the prison.