A local concerned citizens group is pushing for civilian oversight of the Montgomery County Jail.
The Montgomery County Jail Coalition studied how other communities monitor their jails and came up with recommendations for creating an independent watchdog committee.
The push for civilian oversight comes after some residents have raised concerns about conditions inside the Montgomery County Jail.
In the last decade, there have been at least 18 deaths within the jail including the death of Christian Black in March, which was ruled a homicide by coroners.
"This is quite a track record and these are just some highlights, or lowlights, over the course of this period: abuse, the use of restraint chairs, what some would clearly characterize as torture in addition to rashes of suicide and deaths and ultimately homicide," said Joel Pruce, co-chair of the Montgomery County Jail Coalition and a professor at the University of Dayton.
Prior Justice Committee report did not include input from jail detainees
Back in 2017, three sitting commissioners including Judy Dodge, Dan Foley and Debbie Lieberman also expressed concerns about the conditions at the jail and the lawsuits that followed.
They called for an investigation and former Sheriff Phil Plummer himself announced the formation of a civilian oversight committee. But what actually resulted from this momentum was a Justice Committee, which served as an oversight body.
"The justice committee was establish by the Board of County Commissioners and in two years of operation [they] released a report," Pruce said. "Now, their report could only know what it could know and Sheriff Phil Plummer at the time — this was news to us — prohibited the committee established by the board to interview detainees."
"Their report could only know what it could know and Sheriff Phil Plummer at the time — this was news to us — prohibited the committee established by the board to interview detainees."
The 180-page document contained recommendations for improvements at the jail across the board, but Pruce said without feedback from detainees, it could not offer a well-rounded representation of issues within the jail.
"It was based on information that did not include the actual experience of people who were detained in that jail and this is really sort of the basis of what's informed the reforms that have taken place since then," he said.
So the coalition took matters into their own hands, releasing a petition. It called for civilian oversight of the jail to "address the alarming number of deaths and incidents of abuse and neglect within the facility."
It received over 2,000 signatures from more than 30 states in one month. Pruce said the largest concentration of signatures were received from Montgomery and Franklin Counties, as well as Zanesville, where Christian Black's family lives.
The petition was released to Sheriff Rob Streck and County commissioners on July 15 for consideration and response.
Sheriff Streck and Montgomery County Administrator Michael Colbert quickly responded to the petition, claiming that the “jail is already subject to oversight and review by multiple independent entities.”
"Since 2019, the [Board of County Commissioners] has allocated $6.6 million for jail improvements. The BCC continues to partner with the Sheriff’s Office to identify needed repairs and invest in the facility, including an estimated $20 million behavioral health unit currently in progress," said Streck and Colbert in a written statement.
"This project addresses the needs of the current population, based on recommendations from the Behavioral Health Task Force. Construction is expected to begin in the near future."
Jail Coalition wants a civilian oversight committee that's independent from the Sheriff
While the coalition awaited response from county commissioners, they got to work finishing up their study over other existing jail oversight committees to share with the Sheriff and the board.
"We hope this research we're about to present helps to sort of deepen and amplify the seriousness with which the commissioners take this matter," Pruce said.
The study examined prominent civilian oversight boards in the United States, including the Essex County Correctional Civilian Task Force, Delaware County Jail Oversight Board, Washington State Office of Corrections of Ombuds and Pima County Adult Detention Complex.
"We obviously were not the first people to come up with the idea of a civilian oversight body," said Lydia Artz, a law student at the University of Dayton who worked with the coalition on the study. "So we wanted to see what other states were doing on the county level and the state level."
From the study, the Montgomery County Jail Coalition indicated that any civilian oversight committee for the county jail needs independence from sheriff's control, full access to investigate problems inside the facility and transparency to keep the public informed.
Other recommendations include: a clear mandate and scope, access to information, a trauma-informed and rights-based approach, community representation, follow-up and accountability mechanisms, collaboration with other oversight bodies and continuous training and evaluation.
'We need to do something to disrupt the culture of violence'
Pruce said the new proposal addresses the current inadequacies in oversight at the jail.
“We need to do something to disrupt the culture of violence and expose the conduct of this jail and the people running it to greater accountability and transparency,” he said.
Artz said Sheriff Streck’s response that the jail’s current oversight by entities including Public Health of Dayton and Montgomery County does not offer a well-rounded inspection.
"“We need to do something to disrupt the culture of violence and expose the conduct of this jail and the people running it to greater accountability and transparency."
“They do not show any investigation regarding things we find to be important, such as access to adequate health care while behind bars, physical abuse or neglect of detainees or in-custody deaths,” she said.
The Montgomery County Board of Commissioners released its response to the coalition’s petition on Friday, agreeing with Sheriff Streck's statement on current independent oversight.
But the board said it does not have the legal authority to recommend or implement additional oversight bodies in the jail.
"The BCC continues to implement the recommendations of our 2023 Behavioral Health Taskforce (comprised of experts in the field)," the commission said in a written statement, "including development of a $1.3 million behavioral healthcare portal for better care coordination between behavioral health providers, hospitals, the jail and the courts, as well as adding 100 specialized behavioral health beds in the jail, with construction to start this fall."
An organizer with the Montgomery County Jail Coalition, Bobby Beebe, said the coalition is disappointed by the lack of leadership shown from county commissioners on this issue.
"While oversight may be in place, it is clear to our community that it is not enough. We will continue to urge our county leaders to stand with those who elected them in calling for oversight in the county jail," he said.
Beebe said the Montgomery County Jail Coalition will continue to "pursue avenues at the state, local, and federal level to ensure the necessary transparency and accountability are in place to ensure that a stay at the Montgomery County Jail does not become a death sentence."
