Changes move jail in the right direction

The Feb. 11 article “County Lands More Money to Erode ‘Unnecessary Incarceration’” focused on a grant that will fund certain efforts to decrease incarceration in Allegheny County. Our jail currently imprisons about 1,700 people. Fewer than 100 people in our jail are serving out sentences. The majority of people imprisoned in our jail are being held unnecessarily by our locally elected judges. There are some immediate, no-cost ways our elected judges can significantly reduce the incarcerated population at our jail.

Court of Common Pleas judges and their probation administrators can and should stop automatically incarcerating folks for alleged crimes that occur while people are serving probation. By inflicting these probation “detainers,” our elected county judges are currently keeping 500600people on the inside.

Our elected magisterial district judges can and should end cash bail, a practice known to disproportionately imprison and further impoverish poor and working-class people. Our district judges can and should end pretrial incarceration for all but a very few. Right now, approximately 300-400 people are in our jail because of this.

Ending abusive probation practices and overly restrictive bail practices in our county could cut our jail population in half.

These changes will move us toward presuming people are innocent until proven guilty. These changes will move us toward ending mass incarceration. These changes will move us toward ending our failed war on drugs. These changes will move us toward being anti-racist.

ERICA ROCCHI BRUSSELARS

North Side