OPINION: Chris Kelly Opinion: Prison board should put down Sharpie, clear the air

Jul. 6—The termination letter for Krista Purvis, former deputy warden for treatment at Lackawanna County Prison, is five pages long but a quick read.

It begins:

Ms. Purvis,

As you are aware on June 14, 2022, you participated in a due process hearing.

The next 98 lines — which presumably include the reason(s) for Purvis' termination — are redacted. All the letter reveals is that Purvis — a close friend of Commissioner Debi Domenick — was fired for "just cause."

Taxpayers just don't know the cause.

The same is true of the unsolved mystery of why Domenick had a key to the prison administration building. A private investigator hired by the prison board made a convincing case that Purvis gave Domenick the key, but drew no conclusions and resolved nothing. Both refused to take polygraph tests and stuck to the stories that keep this fiasco going.

The last time I called Purvis, she instructed me never to call her again. After months of ignoring my calls and messages, Domenick called me back on Tuesday.

The first five minutes went fine.

The next 40 did not. Debi said several times she was speaking with me "off the record." She said nothing newsworthy, so I'll honor that. Suffice it to say, the commissioner is not my biggest fan. She stood by her insistence that she doesn't remember who gave her the key. I stood by my insistence that her stubborn refusal to come clean has trapped both of us in this prison of a story.

No reasonable doubt about who gave Domenick the key remains. Why she had it and what she used it for must be revealed. Domenick refuses to 'fess up, so The Times-Tribune will keep digging. It's not personal. It's journalism.

State law allows the county to redact the Purvis letter, but doing so only further dims taxpayers' already sullen outlook on local government. Purvis was a deputy warden, not a janitor. Her high-level position and close friendship with Domenick warrant more transparency, not secrecy by Sharpie.

I was unable to reach Lackawanna County Judge James Gibbons, the prison board chairman, on Tuesday. I called District Attorney Mark Powell to see if he might shed some light on what's under all that black ink in the Purvis letter. A prison board member, Powell said he hadn't read the letter. I asked whether the heavy redaction indicates that Purvis broke any laws.

"While she violated internal policies, nothing has been brought to my attention that suggests anything illegal was done," he said. "If evidence of that is brought to my attention, I would investigate it, or refer it to the (state attorney general's office)."

Private investigator James Sulima submitted the bill for his probe into what Domenick mocks as "Keygate." County Chief of Staff Brian Jeffers promised to provide a copy after it is reviewed by county solicitor Frank Ruggiero.

It's disappointing that Sulima's 147-page report left so many unanswered questions, but Powell said taxpayers can and will "come to their own conclusions."

"Clearly, it's inappropriate for a county commissioner to have a key to the prison," he said, adding that a positive result of the fiasco is new policies that discourage elected officials from meddling in prison management.

"You have to take politics out of running the prison," Powell said. "You have to stop appointing political pawns to key roles and let the warden run the prison."

And elected officials have to start being more transparent with the people paying the bills. Commissioner Chris Chermak said Tuesday that the prison board has a duty to try and tie up loose ends left by Sulima's report. The next prison board meeting is July 20 at 12:30 p.m.

"We have to talk about it at the next meeting," Chermak said. "I have questions and I'm sure other people have questions for Commissioner Domenick. We deserve answers. This has gone on long enough."

CHRIS KELLY, the Times-Tribune columnist, feels like Bill Murray in "Groundhog Day." Read his award-winning blog at timestribuneblogs.com/kelly. Contact the writer: kellysworld@timesshamrock.com; @cjkink on Twitter; Chris Kelly, The Times-Tribune on Facebook.