Allegheny County Jail
Outside of the Allegheny County Jail building

‘I just kind of hate being blindsided.’ Jail Board requests records provided to media, asks to be better informed

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Allegheny County Jail Oversight Board members are learning about key issues at the jail through the media, according to comments from two members at their monthly meeting Thursday. 

Following a PublicSource investigation about missed medications and long wait times to receive medical care at the jail, board member Bethany Hallam requested during the meeting that the board regularly receive jail schedules and medical waitlists that PublicSource used in its investigation. “I learned a lot of the things I’ve been wanting to learn about things happening at the jail through a journalist, and that has been happening a lot lately,” Hallam said. “And as much as I love local journalism and respect our local journalists, I just kind of hate being blindsided by them, especially as a member of the Jail Oversight Board.”

Hallam requested the queues of the jail psychiatrist, mental health specialists and medical sick calls, which show how many inmates are waiting to be seen. She also requested the medical schedules, which indicate the number of employees scheduled in the intake department; the healthcare shift reports, which include the number of inmates who have been waiting in the intake department for almost 24 hours at the end of each shift; and reports of any health-related incidents. Most of those records were obtained by PublicSource through open records requests.  

The Jail Oversight Board is a nine-member body tasked with ensuring the jail is being managed properly, as well as ensuring the safety and health of inmates.

MENTAL HEALTH
Outside of the Allegheny County Jail building

Allegheny County Jail sued for alleged assaults on women with psychiatric disabilities

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Three formerly incarcerated women with disabilities are suing the Allegheny County Jail [ACJ] for being allegedly assaulted by a corrections officer. 

In the federal lawsuit, which was filed on Tuesday evening, the women, who are being represented by the Abolitionist Law Center, Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project and K&L Gates, claim ACJ Sergeant John Raible assaulted them by burning them with chemical irritants such as pepper spray and OC pellets, strapping them into a restraint chair and, in one case, physically beating one of the women. The complaint also names Warden Orlando Harper and three other jail officials as defendants for failing to “adequately train, supervise and discipline ACJ corrections officers for such conduct,” which it claims has resulted in “the rampant use of unlawful and unconstitutional force” on inmates. The county does not comment on lawsuits or legal matters, spokesperson Amie Downs wrote in an email to PublicSource. 

According to the lawsuit, Raible pepper sprayed 27-year-old April Walker when she was two months pregnant and slammed her face into the concrete floor, resulting in her hospitalization. Walker has asthma, bipolar disorder, anxiety, depression and PTSD, the complaint says. 

It also claims that Raible pepper sprayed 35-year-old LaVonna Dorsey while she was locked naked in a “strip cage” and then placed her in a restraint chair, causing injuries. Dorsey has chronic asthma, severe anxiety, depression and PTSD, according to the complaint.

MENTAL HEALTH
Outside of the Allegheny County Jail building

‘Dehumanizing and unlawful’: Allegheny County Jail sued over alleged mistreatment of inmates with psychiatric disabilities

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On Tuesday, a law firm and two legal aid nonprofits jointly filed a federal class-action lawsuit against Allegheny County and three top officials of the Allegheny County Jail [ACJ], alleging “inadequate” treatment and “dehumanizing and unlawful” conditions for inmates with psychiatric disabilities. According to the lawsuit, the jail’s practices violate the Fourteenth Amendment, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act. The lawsuit claims the jail does not provide meaningful treatment for individuals with mental health diagnoses and instead uses solitary confinement, irritant spray, a restraint chair and other forceful tactics. “The mental health care system at the Allegheny County Jail is rife with systemic deficiencies that deprive people with psychiatric disabilities of necessary care, and indeed, make their conditions worse,” the federal court complaint said. 

The suit was brought against the county and Warden Orlando Harper, Chief Deputy Warden of Healthcare Services Laura Williams and Mental Health Director Michael Barfield on behalf of five plaintiffs who are currently incarcerated and have psychiatric disabilities, according to the complaint. The plaintiffs are represented by Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis, the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project and the Abolitionist Law Center.

MENTAL HEALTH
Outside of the Allegheny County Jail building

‘It almost broke me.’ How the pandemic is straining mental health at Allegheny County Jail.

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No personal visitors, hardly any time for inmates outside of their cells and chronic vacancies in mental health and health staff raise concerns that the mental health of Allegheny County Jail [ACJ] inmates is deteriorating, according to inmates recently incarcerated there, family members of current inmates, advocates and current and former ACJ staff.