By Brian Bowling and Tony LaRussa
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
PITTSUBRGH — The Department of Justice has begun civil rights investigations into allegations of prisoner abuse at two state prisons, including SCI-Pittsburgh at Woods Run, the first such inquiries it has conducted in Pennsylvania in more than a decade.
The investigation at Woods Run will focus on allegations that the prison failed to protect prisoners from attacks and sexual assaults by other prisoners as well as correctional officers, the department’s Civil Rights Division announced on Thursday in a news release. Agency spokeswoman Xochitl Hinojosa didn’t return calls for comment.
The agency didn’t say how long the investigations may take but said they are separate from any federal criminal investigation of prison officials.
The Justice Department’s civil investigations look at an institution’s policies and practices, said Susan Bensinger, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections. She said federal officials notified the state about the investigations either late Wednesday or yesterday morning, shortly before the public announcement.
“We will fully cooperate,” she said.
Bensinger said she wasn’t aware of any prior Justice Department investigation of a jail or prison in Pennsylvania, and its website listing previous cases doesn’t show such an investigation in at least the last 15 years.
One SCI-Pittsburgh guard, Harry F. Nicoletti, 59, of Coraopolis is facing nearly 100 state charges of sexual assault, indecent assault, solicitation, terroristic threats and related charges from alleged attacks on more than 20 inmates over two years. Six other guards also face state charges related to prisoner abuse.
Lawyers for some guards said their clients are innocent and hope the civil investigation will help prove that.
“I’m not surprised by the fact that the civil rights department is investigating these allegations,” said Mark Fiorilli, who represents Bruce Lowther, 33, of West Newton in Westmoreland County, who is accused of watching Nicoletti assault inmates and participating in the attacks or doing nothing to stop them. “As far as it relates to Bruce Lowther, it is our contention that he never was involved in any of the alleged misconduct at the prison, and we would welcome the opportunity to speak with the Justice Department.”
David LaTorre, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association, said he wasn’t aware of the claims about SCI-Cresson, but that the Woods Run guards who have been charged are entitled to receive due process.
“If they are found guilty, they should be punished accordingly,” LaTorre said. “But to be clear, a handful of officers at SCI-Pittsburgh have been charged with crimes based largely on accusations made by convicted pedophiles and felons.”
Rob Peirce, an attorney representing two inmates identified as John Does in a federal lawsuit filed in September alleging abuse by guards, said his clients would cooperate with the investigation.
“We feel this is warranted to help the families get to the bottom of what happened and to also prevent this abuse from happening to any other inmates in the future,” he said.
A lawyer representing three former top prison officials who were fired during the state probe said his clients will be vindicated by the federal investigation.
“We believe that it’s going to show that they didn’t tolerate -- and certainly didn’t engage in -- misconduct,” said Michael Farnan, who represents former Superintendent Melvin Lockett and former deputy superintendents Janis Niemiec and Martin Kovacs. The three claim in a federal lawsuit that they were fired for political reasons.
The other investigation will focus on claims that SCI-Cresson in Cambria County failed to provide adequate care to prisoners suffering from mental illnesses, failed to protect them from harm and subjected them to excessive periods of isolation.
Republished with permission from Pittsburgh Tribune Review