Jul 7, 2018 2 min read

A Robinson Township man is accusing Washington County jail officials of failing to provide him with adequate access to a computer and books to research case law.

In a handwritten petition filed Tuesday in Washington County Court, 57-year-old Ronald T. Masko claims Warden Edward Strawn and a jail counselor who isn’t identified by full name interfered with his efforts to defend himself.

He alleges there is a single computer for his pod of 65 inmates, allowing each only about eight minutes on the computer during the eight hours of access time allotted each day. He also complains about what he describes as inadequate access to books in the jail law library.

Masko finally alleges he wasn’t provided with instruction on using the law library computer or printouts of case law he wishes to review in his cell, despite language in the jail’s inmate handbook requiring the counselor to do so.

Masko faces charges including drug delivery in each of two cases filed by McDonald and Mt. Pleasant Township police earlier this year. At the time of his arrest in early March, he also was wanted on a federal parole warrant.

Records list attorney Renee Colbert as court-appointed conflict counsel in Masko’s criminal cases. He appears to be representing himself in the petition he filed.

Among the remedies he requests in his petition are monetary damages and free copies of case law he wants “until more computers are installed.”