KINGSTON – The timing if an audit of the Ulster County Jail by the county comptroller’s office was “not conducive to the expectations of the audit,” Sheriff Juan Figueroa said.
The timing was wrong given bail reform, the COVID-19 pandemic, loss of tax revenue to the county and anti-law enforcement sentiment, he said.
The audit used jail averages in 2019 and 2020, population averages that should not have been used. Bail reform was passed in Albany in April 2019, and although the law did not official kick in until January 2020, courts began implementing it shortly after it was signed into law. As a result, jail population declined immediately.
The audit criticized the fact that jail staff was not reduced commensurate with reduced jail population. The sheriff cited New York law that stated staffing requirements for each local jail is dependent upon the functions it performs and said the Ulster Jail levels were proportionate to those.
