After salmonella caused a health crisis in the Broome County Correctional Facility, former Binghamton Mayor Matt Ryan took aim at the Broome County sheriff over inmate safety and the cost of communication with people on the outside.
Ryan, who is running for the position as a Democrat, held a press conference surrounded by supporters on June 16 at the Broome County Courthouse and blamed Broome County Sheriff Fred Akshar for the recent salmonella outbreak that left 320 of the 450 people in the facility sick and 10 hospitalized.
He also discussed a resolution on the agenda for a June 18 Broome County Legislature meeting that would amend an agreement with the facility’s inmate telephone service provider to include a cost increase for phone calls.
In a statement, Akshar said the “list of positive, transformative changes” for people in the facility made by his team at the Broome County Sheriff’s Office “is nearly as long as the list of Matt Ryan’s failures as mayor.”
Salmonella outbreak accusations
When the salmonella outbreak began, the Broome County Health Department opened an investigation into the crisis to uncover what was responsible for the spread of the foodborne illness. Food from the prison was sent to the Wadsworth Center lab in Albany for testing to find the source of the bacteria, and test results for chicken salad that was served to the inmates came back positive for salmonella. On June 4, Broome County Health Department Public Health Director Olivia Catalano confirmed that no other food sent to Albany tested positive for salmonella.
After reviewing footage from the jail and speaking to members of the kitchen staff, which is a combination of working inmates and employees provided by food vendor Trinity Services Group, Catalano said the health department found six critical violations during the preparation of the chicken salad served to inmates.
A Press & Sun-Bulletin review of Broome County health inspection records also revealed that the food service provider had a recorded history of non-critical and critical violations.
The outbreak led to blowback from people who became sick while incarcerated and family members of people still held within the facility. A class action lawsuit was filed against Akshar and Broome County, alleging the salmonella poisoning was a result of the county’s and Akshar’s negligence and breach of duties.
When asked on June 9, Akshar said inmate employees have been removed from the correctional facility kitchen, and he has been talking to Broome County Executive Jason Garner and Broome County attorneys about finding a new food service provider and terminating the contract with Trinity.
Ryan said “the fault lies fully on the sheriff” at the June 16 press conference. He also said he believes Akshar should never have signed a contract with Trinity because the company is “known all over the country for getting sued” and the contract “exposes the taxpayers to great costs.”
The county’s contract with Trinity began in 2018, prior to Akshar assuming office in 2023.
“If you put somebody in jail and feed them junk food and poisonous food, they’re not going to come out better, they’re going to come out worse,” Ryan said.
Resolution on inmate communications
The legislature will be voting to amend an agreement with Global Tel Link, the facility’s communications provider, at a meeting on June 18.
According to the resolution, the amendment is “necessary” to address changes mandated or permitted by the Federal Communications Commission’s Final Report and Order released in November 2025. These changes implement the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act of 2022, which is meant to “ensure just and reasonable charges for any audio or video communications service used by inmates,” according to the bill.
The amendment to the agreement makes it so that the Broome County Correctional Facility cannot earn compensation from the phone calls made by inmates, but it allows for “the addition of a Facility Cost Rate Additive” to the per-minute cost of communications so that the facility can “recover costs” that were previously earned as a percentage of the payments made by inmates, according to the resolution.
Ryan said the salmonella outbreak and the increase in communications prices are related because during the crisis, “concerned families frantically tried to stay in touch with loved ones inside.”
“These two issues are linked by the sheriff’s disregard for the lives of people in his care, his disinterest in running a safe facility and his fiscal irresponsibility,” he said.
Ryan then called on the legislature and Akshar to give back the money spent on communications and tablet use in the facility during the outbreak. He also said as sheriff, he would look to make communications free for inmates, a program he said has been instituted in state prisons and at Rikers Island in New York City.
“They spent hundreds of dollars making sure their loved ones were okay,” he said. “Where did they spend those hundreds of dollars? On a communication system that shouldn’t exist.”
In response, Akshar said new rate changes for phone calls, which is an increase from $0.09 to $0.13, and video conferencing, an increase from $0.14 to $0.17, are due to the recent nationwide standards changes set by the FCC.
The facility’s tablet vendor, Viapath Technologies, made changes in their pricing in accordance with those new standards, according to Akshar. All other rate increases, including an increase from $0.04 to $0.07 per minute to watch movies and play games on tablets and increase from $0.25 to $0.50 to send text messages “coincide with costs associated with providing a variety of communication methods and opportunities provided for incarcerated individuals and their loved ones.”
“Whether you’re on your home phone, on your cell phone or incarcerated, the simple fact is phone calls and text messages aren’t free — for law abiding citizens or incarcerated individuals,” Akshar said.
All of the revenue from communications is utilized for correctional facility improvements, infrastructure and law enforcement expenditures “to the benefit of Broome County taxpayers and residents,” according to Akshar. Despite these increases, Akshar said all revenue from phone and messaging is projected to decrease due to the FCC standards and guideline changes.
Akshar also said that in the past three years, visitation hours have nearly tripled every week, and digital education, rehabilitation, self-improvement and workforce training videos have been added to tablets.
This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: Broome County sheriff candidate condemns jail food, phone call costs
Reporting by Jillian McCarthy, Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin / Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jillian McCarthy, Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin | USA TODAY Network
