Judge Cashman failed in jail oversight
Has the judge forgotten that people are presumed innocent until proven guilty?
Judge David Cashman did the right — and overdue — thing when he stepped down from his position as chairman of the Allegheny County Jail Oversight Board last week.
Oh, but he did not go quietly, though he should have.
Instead, he fired off a letter of resignation eviscerating some activists whose passion for their cause — their highly righteous cause — had made them a thorn in his side.
And with his poison- pen letter, he demonstrated his lack of temperance, one of the six- pack of judicial virtues.
And he proved what I’ve been thinking for a while: He needed to go.
I was on the phone with an awesome advocate, speaking to her about Judge Cashman, when an email popped onto my computer tipping me to the rumor that the judge was on his way out as oversight board chairman.
The timing was quite coincidental because Marion Damick, the soon- to- be 94- year- old representative of the Pennsylvania Prison Society and the former director of the local American Civil Liberties Union, had just tied a ribbon on a lengthy commentary with the conclusive statement: “Judge Cashman should be replaced.”
The most immediate reason for my phone call to her involved public confrontations between the oversight board and some activists representing the transgender community. Or, as Judge Cashman described them in his resignation letter: “... individuals who purport to represent the transgender population of Allegheny County.”
The judge had abruptly exited two meetings of the jail oversight board after the unhappy activists — including some transgender former inmates — had stirred up the meetings with outbursts and interruptions. They were rightly concerned about the jail’s housing policies and safety of transgender inmates. A special meeting of the oversight board was convened July 22, but when things got heated, the judge walked out before the meeting was over. Then, at a regular meeting of the board on Aug. 1, the meeting ended abruptly again when two activists were shuffled from the room by authorities.
As a longtime journalist, I’ve sat through public meetings during which the public got unruly. No matter the good reason for the behavior, it’s aggravating. I’m just saying. So I get the judge’s frustration. But, as a veteran of the bench and as the chairman of the oversight board tasked to ensure the welfare of inmates, Judge Cashman should have been able to muster tolerance for the contretemps.
And there’s more.
Judge Cashman caught my attention early this year when he balked at the $ 18,000 cost of a suicide prevention study. This despite the fact that, at the time of the discussion, there had been eight suicides in the past three years at the Allegheny County Jail ( the most recent in April), after having no suicides from 2013 through 2015. This despite the jail’s notorious history of high suicide rates: 20 in the 1980s; eight in the 1990s; and 19 from 2001 through 2010. In 2011, there was one suicide; in 2012, three.
Enlisting the aid of an expert on a matter of literal life- and-death importance seemed a nobrainer to me. It’s not as if there wasn’t an abundance of money available. The county’s “inmate welfare fund” had a balance of about $ 2.7 million and the county operating budget ( which also could have been tapped for this expense) exceeds $ 932 million.
Why the lack of urgency in a matter of monumental import? I still don’t know. ( I tried to reach the judge by phone but didn’t get a call back.)
I’ve got some suspicions. A review of meeting minutes from the jail oversight board paints a picture of Judge Cashman as a man who may be jaded, who appears to have lost his regard for a foundational principle of our justice system: innocent until proven guilty.
A few snippets from the meeting minutes, kept by the county controller’s office:
• In January 2018, he made a snide reference to a sudden swell in the population of the jail, which is supposed to hold about 2,300 and generally hovers between 1,900 and 2,400. He remarked the swell was due to “last- minute Christmas shoplifting.” It may have been an attempt at humor, but is there anything funny about people behind bars?
• In February 2018, he said: “As a general rule, the people in the ACJ deserve to be there because they are very violent and dangerous.” Many inmates are not charged with — much less, convicted of — violent crimes.
• In September 2017, Judge Cashman commented that the board would fulfill its duty to investigate complaints about the jail, but added that “in the past, complaints have proven utterly false.” Had he decided the validity of the complaints before they even were investigated?
• In March 2017, he commented of the jail population: “80% are goofs. The other 20% are truly evil people.” The judge must know that most inmates are awaiting trial and haven’t yet been convicted of anything. Which means they are presumed innocent. Whether they are goofs? Irrelevant.
Ms. Damick, who has been attending jail oversight board meetings for three decades, said she has been “outraged” by Judge Cashman’s behavior, demeanor and comments.
“I’ve had to keep saying [ to him], ‘ They’re innocent. Everybody is innocent until they’re proven guilty.’ Unfortunately, Judge Cashman believes they wouldn’t be in jail if they hadn’t done something bad. That’s the type of judge he is.”
In his resignation letter, Judge Cashman wrote, in part: “... it would appear that I have become a lightning rod for the animosity directed at the board. ... Their attitude ... has been antagonistic, vituperative and vindictive.” He said it was best he resign.
He’s right. The oversight board is commissioned to oversee the operation and maintenance of the jail, as well as the health and safekeeping of inmates. In short, the board members are commissioned to care. Judge Cashman seems to have become numb to his commission.
His regard for inmates is concerning, and I’m relieved he is no longer on the jail oversight board. But I can’t quite suggest Judge Cashman step down from the bench before his second 10- year term ends in 2021. By many accounts, he has a bright mind, a keen and acerbic wit, a temper that flares but is extinguished quickly, broad and deep knowledge of the law, and guts. He is said to never hold a grudge, to be fair- minded, to be unbiased in his treatment of prosecutors and defenders. In sum, he is esteemed by many.
Perhaps his years as a lawyer and a judge ( almost 50) have sapped his empathy for those in the criminal justice funnel — many of whom entered that funnel not because they were evil or goofs, but because they were unlucky and disadvantaged. I want to believe Judge Cashman knows this. Stepping away from the oversight board should give him some time to think and remember.