By Jonathan D. Silver
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
PITTSBURGH — A day after the Armstrong County District Attorney’s office issued a highly critical report that exposed systemic problems at the local jail, a lawyer representing the family of a woman police say was killed by an inmate escapee called her death an “avoidable tragedy” and said many of the recommended fixes were mere common sense.
“It’s a step in the right direction in terms of trying to rectify the numerous deficiencies large and small that led to this very unfortunate event so that it never happens again,” attorney George Kontos, who represents Tammy Long’s children, said Tuesday. “None of the recommendations are things that are difficult to understand. There are a lot of common-sense principles here that I think most people will read and shake their heads in disbelief that they weren’t being implemented.”
Mr. Kontos said the report depicts “deliberate and reckless indifference” to the community and “gross and willful negligence and recklessness ... on the part of those individuals that were responsible for running the jail and ensuring the citizens of the community were adequately protected.”
The 43-page report, commissioned by District Attorney Scott Andreassi, found crucial flaws in the day-to-day operations of the Armstrong County Jail that Mr. Andreassi said allowed Robert E. Crissman Jr., a heroin addict, small-time criminal and inmate trusty, to run away. That escape, in turn, he said, led to Ms. Long’s death.
Police say Crissman beat and strangled Ms. Long, 55, of Rayburn a short time after running away from the jail while on a morning work shift. The DA’s report said Crissman was unsupervised and not monitored while he waited outside the facility for a van delivering breakfast trays -- after inmates propped open the door to the outside with bricks. Mr. Andreassi said that last detail surprised him the most and called it “an egregious violation...”
Mr. Andreassi, an 18-year member of the county prison board that oversees the jail, said the board is not at fault for the relaxed, underfunded and understaffed environment that helped permit Crissman’s escape. Rather, he said, the board depended on the jail’s warden for guidance and budgeting.
“A lot of the items they point out are common-sense items management should have been pointing out, should have been addressing,” Mr. Andreassi said. “We’re not there on a daily basis. That’s why we have the warden and his staff.”
However, Crissman’s attorney, Chuck Pascal, said, “There’s a lot of that blame to be spread around, starting with the warden but also the prison board.”
Warden David C. Hogue remains suspended without pay.