Federal judge lays stiff fines, criticisms on Cumberland County jail management

CAMDEN – A federal district court is fining Cumberland County for what a judge described as a pattern of officials ignoring and misleading him about whether jail management is meeting his directives to improve their COVID-19 health and safety measures.

Judge Noel Hillman told county representatives at a hearing on Wednesday that he reluctantly concludes jail management is “incapable” of complying. The only recourse is to start imposing financial pain, he said.

Hillman said he was fed up with having to spend time investigating legitimate complaints from plaintiffs, taking him away from other responsibilities.

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“It should be the daily discussion of the management of the jail: ‘What’s the order say? Are we in compliance? Are we doing what we’re supposed to do?’” Hillman said at one point. “It shouldn’t be the plaintiffs governing things and writing me things and complaining all the time.

“It’s supposed to be a self-policing system where respect for the courts is the first rule of the day,” Hillman added. “And the second order of the day is to report non-compliance and seek relief. Not to come later and say, ‘Well, we did the best we could, judge.’ That’s just not enough.”

The judge pointedly reminded county attorney Gregg Zeff that Cumberland County voluntarily agreed to take all the actions in his order. Compliance was part of a settlement the county negotiated in May to avoid trial in a class-action lawsuit on behalf of inmates.

Zeff appeared for the hearing from his office, with Warden Charles Warren.

Zeff bore the brunt of the judge’s ire, even after the attorney blamed some problems on what he describe as rebellious correction officers.

Zeff alleged officers "intentionally" are refusing to follow court orders and then alleging workplace retaliation when disciplined. He suggested they be brought to court for contempt hearings.

One officer Zeff blamed is a Bridgeton resident admitted to a Vineland hospital on Monday with COVID-19 symptoms. Police Benevolent Association Local 231, which represents line officers, said the man is on oxygen.

Hillman agreed to resume taking testimony on Monday about improperly maintained supply logs kept by supervisors. But the judge indicated he is leaning toward imposing another large fine.

The county is acknowledging the supply logs are not maintained as required. Zeff claimed that even with full staff cooperation the standard cannot be met, provoking another lecture from the bench.

“An institution’s excuse that ‘my employee failed to comply with your order after I told them they must’ is not a defense to contempt for the institution,” Hillman told Zeff.

Zeff also argued that the county had discussed problems with the court’s special master, attorney William Hughes Jr. That is evidence the county was trying to keep the court informed, he said.

Hughes and a team he selected are monitoring the jail and making recommendations to the court, all under the lawsuit settlement agreement from May. Hillman already has translated recommendations into orders.

The judge flatly rejected Zeff’s plea that discussions with the special master satisfied the county obligation to comply with court orders. An increasingly frustrated judge and county attorney went back and forth on the special master’s role at multiple points.

“You’re not listening to me,” Hillman said. “Maybe I should hold you in contempt. You are not listening to me. You are not processing what I am saying. There is no provision in the order that says, ‘If I call up the special master and say, “I’m not in compliance with Judge Hillman’s order. Back me up … if he wants to hold me in contempt.’”

As of Wednesday, Cumberland County now has at least two hefty penalties to satisfy.

First, Hillman ruled, the county had "completely ignored" his Sept. 1 order regarding an inmate’s savings account. The inmate is a plaintiff in the class action lawsuit before Hillman, but he also filed a related civil action.

Hillman in July 2020 had ordered the inmate’s jail spending account be tapped monthly to pay for a lawsuit filing fee and ordered that the court see an account statement. On Sept. 1, Hillman issued an order again demanding an account statement but also an explanation as to why money was never deducted over the last year as he had directed.

Hillman said the county will pay $1,000, every day, until it fulfills the demands in that order. The court similarly is interested in the status of other inmate accounts.

Second, the judge imposed a $10,000 fine for the jail missing a deadline to install and stock cleaning supply lockers for inmates. That was to be done no later than 2 p.m. on August 16, but it was not completed for another several hours that day.

Until recently, however, the court believed that August 16 deadline had been met. Hillman repeatedly bore down on the county attorney for his previous erroneous testimony on that subject.

Hillman noted that Zeff had presented the court with photographs of the new lockers, as evidence the deadline was met. But the photos were not stamped with times, and the court assumed the 2 p.m. deadline had been met.

“You stood before me, here in the courtroom, and said, ‘Judge. Here are the pictures. It happened. It happened. It happened,’” Hillman said. “Well, I hate to be cynical, sir. But either you were lying to me or somebody was lying to you. Because it would have been your obligation to say, ‘Were we in compliance? The judge wants to know.’ You didn’t say you would `find out.’ You showed me the pictures.”

Hillman then turned to Warren, who is a named defendant in the class action lawsuit. “He’s a representative of a county government that apparently doesn’t take my order seriously enough to spend money, get in there, and get the lockers filled up, get the logs done,” the judge said.

Hillman said county arguments that it “came close” to complying are not enough. At that point, the judge said he was ordering another $10,000 fine for not maintain proper inventory records. But later in the hearing, he said would delay the fine until after another hearing Monday.

Zeff complained the court was cutting off his answers about the improperly kept supply logs, and he then got permission to talk further about the log keeping.

“And we have logs that are non-compliant, your honor,” Zeff admitted. “But that doesn’t mean that the jail, that the administration, that the leadership is failing. It means that we have difficulty getting people to comply. And if your honor is going to hold us in contempt, which you are, that means you are finding that we’re doing something willfully here to violate your order. And that is absolutely not the case.”

Attorney Jeffrey Pollock, one of a team of lawyers representing inmates, told Hillman he agreed with the court’s view that Cumberland County is admitting not following orders. A punitive response from the court is warranted, he said.

“I am extremely irritated and concerned because the inmate population is up,” Pollock said. “According to The Daily Journal, the number of inmates is now 14 who were infected. There’s officers who are now on ventilators. The issue is a real issue. And I understand the jail has issues.

“But the fact is they can solve this problem by spending money,” Pollock said. “My simple belief is you’ve done everything you can, judge, to get compliance. Unless and until you start assessing penalties and fines, I guess, the only lever you’ve got is the only language they’re going to listen to. At that point, my suspicion is we will get completed logs every day because it’s going to cost them 10,000 bucks a day.”

Zeff said the county requests the log-keeping order be modified to be less stringent.

“The alternative is, if your honor maintains the current order, we’re going to have to call everybody in and ask that they be held in contempt for failure to fill out the log,” Zeff said.

Pollock responded against that, saying complete logs are critical.

“I’m not asking for `perfect,’ Pollock said. “But I am asking for the compliance with the order.  Because the reality is the inmates need compliance. They need to know. And right now, he can’t prove it. I can’t prove it. … I’m not asking for perfection, but I need to protect my clients.”

Cumberland County is attempting to close its jail, located in Bridgeton next to the county courthouse, and move inmates to other counties. That plan has been delayed due to a a separate state lawsuit, currently on appeal.

Zeff advised Hillman that the county recently obtained permission to relocate female inmates, probably starting next week. Male inmates must remain, with limited exceptions.

PBA Local 231 President Vic Bermudez responded Wednesday to Zeff's allegations about officers. The union is not part of the suit but is closely following it.

"Our officers are being victimized by the county’s incompetence,"  Bermudez said. "Suggesting somehow that our officers have anything to do with the county’s lackluster efforts to comply with the judge’s order is laughable.

“At this very moment, one of our officers is hospitalized and on oxygen due to COVID-19," Bermudez said. "This could have been avoided. There needs to be consequences for their actions.”  

Joe Smith is a N.E. Philly native transplanted to South Jersey more than 30 years ago, keeping an eye now on government in South Jersey. He is a former editor and current senior staff writer for The Daily Journal in Vineland, Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, and the Burlington County Times. Have a tip? Reach out at jsmith@thedailyjournal.com or follow me on Twitter, @jpsmith-dj. Help support local journalism with a subscription.