2 activists arrested at jail board meeting

Rights of transgender inmates issue of protest

Two activists were arrested and cited by Allegheny County sheriff’s deputies Thursday after being forcibly removed from the Jail Oversight Board meeting in the County Courthouse’s Gold Room.

Community organizer Christian Carter and transgender advocate and former inmate Ciora Thomas attended the meeting with a large group to protest the treatment of transgender inmates. They said those inmates are often housed according to their birth sex rather than their gender identity, and they also raised other issues about the jail.

Ms. Thomas interrupted the meeting repeatedly with questions. The board chair, Common Pleas Judge David R. Cashman, eventually asked Sheriff William Mullen to have her removed. Mr. Carter was then arrested for getting between the sheriff’s deputies and Ms. Thomas.

Both were expected to receive a citation to appear in court. They were released only after all other activists left the building and the meeting room was cleared of attendees.

After she was released, Ms. Thomas said, “We were publicly commenting. The judge, who’s afraid of accountability, didn’t want to be held accountable.”

On Monday, Judge Cashman walked out of a special meeting he had called on the treatment of transgender inmates. The meeting continued without him, but activists were told by board member and Allegheny County Controller Chelsa Wagner that the board would not have the power to make the changes they wanted, instead pointing to county Executive Rich Fitzgerald. Before and after Thursday’s meeting, advocates directed most of their attention at Mr. Fitzgerald, who wasn’t present.

“They didn’t give us a charge. I guess we’ll be getting a citation in the mail,” said Ms. Thomas.

Sheriff Mullen said of Ms. Thomas, “One was using vulgar language. She kept interrupting the speakers, which is a violation. She was asked to leave, and she wouldn’t leave, so she was forcibly removed, and she was charged.”

He said Mr. Carter was arrested because he wouldn’t move when deputies were trying to remove Ms. Thomas. Mr. Carter declined to comment.

After Ms. Thomas and Mr. Carter were removed, other activists followed onto the landing, at which point sheriff’s deputies tried to make them either leave the building or return to the meeting room. At least one activist was grabbed by a deputy trying to clear the landing.

“A male officer put his hands on a nonbinary individual, and no one said anything,” said Lorenzo Rulli, an activist who alleged at Monday’s meeting that he was beaten

by guards while at the jail.

Eventually the landing was cleared, but the meeting did not continue. Judge Cashman again left, and while the board tried to change the agenda to hold the public comment period, activists said they would not sit down until Ms. Thomas and Mr. Carter were released. Eventually, Miracle Jones of the Abolitionist Law Center told the crowd that Mr. Carter and Ms. Thomas would not be released until everyone left.

Sheriff Mullen, who is a member of the jail board, said everyone had to leave because other than the late afternoon meeting, the courthouse was closed. “There’s evidence contained in this building,” he explained.

“We were prepared to answer them, or to go into some type of committee to figure this out, to do some sort of investigation or examination of these accusations,” said Sheriff Mullen, but “there have to be rules.”

Ms. Thomas said she would bring her concerns to the Pennsylvania Commission on LGBTQ Affairs, of which she is a board member, as well as turn her attention to Mr. Fitzgerald.