The Allegheny County Jail Oversight Board on Monday night voted to cancel a controversial contract with a corrections special operations group whose founder’s background raised significant questions about his history and qualifications.

The vote was 4-3 with one abstention to cancel a $347,000 contract for training and weaponry with Corrections Special Applications Unit and Joseph Garcia, who is listed as the South Carolina company’s senior team leader.

The training, according to Warden Orlando Harper, was necessary to counter a referendum in the spring that becomes effective in early December. It prohibits the use of chemical weapons, leg shackles and the restraint chair in the jail.

Harper again said during Monday’s meeting that if the jail does not continue with the C-SAU training, there will be an increase in the use of physical force at the jail because five-man teams will be required to enter cells to conduct cell extractions for non-compliant inmates.

“I only have a couple of months to be in compliance,” he said.

However, advocates for those incarcerated at the jail and members of the oversight board have, for weeks, raised concerns about Garcia and the type of training he employs, including using shotguns that fire bean bags and other “less lethal” rounds.

Bethany Hallam, a member of the board and an Allegheny County councilwoman at large, said the use of this type of training is a “disturbing step for jail administration already facing multiple lawsuits.

“It opens the county up to liability for future suits,” she said, calling the company’s efforts to defend itself “nothing more than official gaslighting.”

The county approved the no-bid contract with Garcia in July, claiming that his company was the only one that could provide the type of training the jail was seeking.

On Monday, Harper said “they were not the only option, but they were the best option to bring this vendor in to the facility.”

Board member and County Controller Chelsa Wagner said the way the no-bid contract was initiated with C-SAU was “reckless” and “made a mockery of the public process.”

The board first heard from Garcia at a meeting on Sept. 2, when it requested additional information, including Garcia’s resume, previous corrections facilities with whom he’d contracted and other background information.

However, Garcia refused to provide any of those items, which prompted concern among several of the board members.

“Everyone should be irate by that,” Wagner said on Monday.

At that first meeting, Garcia claimed to have previously worked for four sheriff’s offices. However, each of those departments confirmed to the Tribune-Review that Garcia was never employed there.

During Monday’s meeting, Jerry Baldwin, identified as C-SAU’s public information officer, told the board that Garcia worked as a contractor with three of the entities and was a deputy at another.

Garcia did not participate in Monday’s meeting, and Baldwin said Garcia was advised by the company’s legal counsel not to participate.

“Upon advice of legal counsel, Joseph Garcia was told there was nothing he could add to the conversation,” Baldwin said. “The contract was already awarded. He’s already been vetted. It just wasn’t appropriate for him to be here.”

Several board members pressed Baldwin on details about the company and Garcia’s history.

He was unable to say who the company’s legal counsel was or how many people are employed by C-SAU.

“I don’t have a list of employees,” Baldwin said. “I don’t know a number, and I’m not going to say a guess.”

Harper and county administration have said repeatedly that they are seeking de-escalation training.

However, Wagner noted “with this contract, the word ‘de-escalation’ doesn’t appear here once. That’s a huge concern to me.”

Wagner also questioned during the meeting what made Garcia qualified to work with people who are mentally ill to try to de-escalate incidents at the jail.

Harper responded that Garcia’s qualifications were “30 years of corrections experience.”

Baldwin said, “More than 30 years of doing this day in and day out, dealing with that every single day and not having a single issue ever — those are his qualifications.”

However, Gary Raney, a former sheriff in Boise, Idaho, and corrections expert, said during Monday’s meeting that the training Garcia’s company provided in Charleston County, S.C., led to the death in January of Jamal Sutherland following a cell extraction.

What happened to Sutherland, Raney said, “was consistent with what they were taught” by Garcia. “Both of those deputies were trained by that company.”

He called the force used on Sutherland “a gross violation of what we call generally accepted jail practices and use of force.”

Garcia has denied that the South Carolina jail was using his training at the time, saying instead the county had canceled his contract in early 2019.

“If you had the opportunity today, would you hire Mr. Garcia and his company to come in to your correctional facility?” Hallam asked Raney.

“No,” he answered.

However, Raney also told the board that the referendum banning the use of chemical weapons, like OC spray, and the restraint chair, will likely lead to more physical harm to inmates, increased incidents of use of force — and possibly more deaths.

The reason, he said, is because OC spray can be used from a distance, not requiring a physical confrontation between officers and inmates. And the restraint chair, Raney said, came into existence to reduce death by positional asphyxiation.

“This is a drastic decision in my opinion,” Raney said.

At its next meeting, the oversight board is expected to discuss other potential methods that could allow the jail to come into compliance with the referendum.

Those voting to end the contract with C-SAU were: Hallam, Wagner, board member Terri Klein and Common Pleas Judge Beth A. Lazzara.

Klein said she observed the training and even volunteered to be shot by a shotgun, although Harper wouldn’t allow it.

Just prior to voting, she called it one of the most important decisions she has ever made. Although Klein said she recognizes the difficult position of the jail and its staff to work under the constraints of the referendum, she noted that Garcia refused to provide a resume or any other qualifications.

“I am being asked to trust without the ability to verify,” Klein said. “And, as a community representative, after reading the public comment and guided by my conscience, I am unable to do so.”

Those voting to continue the C-SAU training were Senior Deputy County Manager Steve Pilarski, who was sitting in on behalf of County Executive Rich Fitzgerald; Allegheny County Chief Deputy Sheriff Kevin Kraus; and board member Abass Kamara.

M. Gayle Moss abstained.

Both Kraus and Pilarski spoke in favor of the training, noting that the best options for jail staff were removed by the referendum. Pilarski said he based his decision on having observed the training and its de-escalation techniques, and by talking to officers and relying on the expertise of the warden.

President Judge Kim Berkeley Clark, who chairs the board, only votes in the event of a tie. She told the board, “I do trust Warden Harper to do the right thing.”

However, she expressed concerns about Garcia.

“My gut tells me, ‘what are we hiding here?’ ”

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