By Joyce Kryszak
Buffalo, NY – Former inmates told Erie County lawmakers Thursday they're tired of being called liars. About a dozen people and advocate groups testified about past and ongoing prisoner abuse at the holding center and the correctional facility.
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One after another, people told lawmakers horror stories about their time behind Erie County bars. Some say they were deprived of medicine and basic necessities and denied visitors for months. Some say they were beaten, mocked and kicked. But the most disturbing testimony came from Tibet Hafii. The young woman says she was raped by a deputy late one night. When she called for help, Hafii says she was dragged to a basement cell and kept in isolation and taunted for ten days.
Her accounts of abuse and a dozen more came one day after the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the county. They say the county is violating prisoner's constitutional rights. The administration says the abuse allegations are pure fiction. County Executive Chris Collins says he will not be forced into running the jails like a hotel. Legislator Maria Whyte says that interpretation of such serious allegations is outrageous.
Collins wants to build a multi-million dollar building as a remedy. But lawmakers say they will block any budget proposals that don't call for real improvements.