SOMERSET, Pa. -- Amid finger pointing and blame shifting, the Somerset County prison board yesterday appointed the superintendent of a nearby state prison to review policies and procedures at the county jail to find out what led to the hazing of an estimated 50 new inmates.

Fredric Rosemeyer, who served as interim warden at the Allegheny County Jail for 10¹/₂ months last year and is currently superintendent at the State Correctional Institution Laurel Highlands, will spend the next three months reviewing how corrections staff in Somerset work with the warden and how they run the jail.

The Somerset County Jail, built in 1981, has been under scrutiny by the state Department of Corrections for failing to meet 12 of 25 requirements regarding inmates. It has come under further review in the past few months as allegations of inmate beatings came to light.

According to Somerset Borough Police Chief Randy Cox, as many as 50 inmates have been assaulted over the past two years.

Incoming inmates were told they had to submit to a "shower shoeing," in which more senior inmates would give them 10 to 20 whacks with rubber-soled shower shoes. If the inmates refused, they were subjected to a more severe beating. Several inmates were treated at the local hospital for broken bones from such beatings.

Thus far, eight inmates, believed to be the leaders in the attacks, have been charged.

Cox said he doesn't believe corrections officers in the jail acted criminally, but that will be part of Rosemeyer's review.

Somerset County Commissioner Brad Cober, who served on the prison board, said he was surprised information on the inmate beatings did not come out sooner.

At least five people involved in the judicial process would have been aware of inmate injuries, including the district attorney, the warden, corrections officers, judges hearing the cases and defense attorneys.

"To make the warden or even his officers out to be scapegoats is just wrong," Cober said. "I'm not laying blame; I'm a prison board member just as much as they are."

But he went on to say that both the sheriff and the district attorney were aware of the assaults, but chose not to investigate.

"There's nobody here trying to sweep things under the rug or cover things up," Cober said.

Sheriff Carl Brown would not comment on the ongoing investigation, but said, "It's a shame it had to come to this to get things where they are today."

Rosemeyer will begin his review next week when he interviews Cox.