Rod Watson: Jail death lawsuit is not against ‘county,’ it’s against us – and rightly so

And maybe that’s why jail reform comes slower than it should.

The suit on behalf of the estate of an inmate – one of several – who died by suicide in the Holding Center lists as defendants Erie County, former longtime Sheriff Timothy Howard and then-Undersheriff Mark Wipperman.

But in reality, the list of defendants could be simplified as just “the taxpayers.”

Neither Howard – who parlayed a ruinous four terms as sheriff into election as Wales supervisor two years ago – nor his now-retired undersheriff will have money come out of their own pockets to pay off any lawsuits, except for what they contribute as taxpayers.

It’s all the rest of us who will foot the bulk of the bill if the plaintiffs succeed. 

That fact often gets missed when we think of lawsuits as being against government or public officials.

And maybe that’s why we are so slow to hold elected officials accountable when they, or the people they appoint or confirm, cost government – i.e., you and me – thousands or millions of dollars with their incompetence, indifference or outright abuse.

On Monday,  the latest such trial begins in state Supreme Court when the estate of the late Trevell Walker sues the county over his 2011 death by suicide in the Holding Center. Walker was being held in the beating and stabbing death of his wife in their Cheektowaga apartment a year earlier. But before he could be tried, he hanged himself from a bed sheet, supposedly tied to a sink.

An obvious question is: How is that possible, given the height of the typical sink? Conceivably, the person could try to do it while sitting or lying down. But citing the department’s history of hiding the truth to protect itself – such as by calling suicide attempts “individual inmate disturbances” in official reports or citing an “air obstruction” when summoning…