County jail board reviews behavioral training
The Allegheny County Jail Oversight Board met Thursday for the first time following its September vote to veto a contract that sought controversial training for corrections officers.
During the meeting, new training methods were presented to board members, with a focus on mental health awareness and verbal de-escalation. Later, members sought answers for how the jail would handle bans on solitary confinement and restraints, which go into effect this December.
Erin Dalton, director of the Allegheny County Department of Human Services, spoke to the board about her department’s plan to implement updated training for jail staff in the coming months. Her department works with the Allegheny County Jail to collaborate on training.
Ms. Dalton said she wants to make sure all jail staff are trained in mental health first aid, calling it a “first line of defense,” for de-escalating conflict.
Ms. Dalton said mental health first aid is an eighthour training course that provides basic education on how to identify and respond to signs of mental illness, substance use disorder, panic attacks and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. She anticipates the training to begin in October and continue through the end of the year.
The department also plans to implement crisis intervention training, an intensive 40hour program for resolution skills in crisis situations. Ms. Dalton said the training would be implemented between April and December of 2022.
Ms. Dalton said the DHS also is working on providing an intensive, four-hour verbal de-escalation training for all jail staff in October and November. The DHS is developing the training with the Crisis Training Institute of UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital.
To help fund the CTI training, Ms. Dalton said the DHS applied for a federal grant, but even if it is not awarded, the DHS will be moving ahead with planning and implementation.
Board members raised questions to Warden Orlando Harper about how his jail plans to navigate the solitary confinement ban that was passed in a ballot referendum in May. The ban is exempted in cases of lockdowns, medical or safety emergencies, and protective separation requests.
Voters in May also passed bans on the use of restraint chairs, leg shackles and chemical weapons, which go into effect on Dec. 5.
Mr. Harper said restraint chairs and suicide gowns were “very important to the jail” to keep suicidal individuals safe, but once the moratorium begins they will not be able to use them. He said 674 inmates were placed in a suicide gown in 2020, and 374 were placed in a suicide gown in the intake department. Mr. Harper said 434 inmates have been placed in a gown this year.
Mr. Harper told the board the jail is purchasing padded cells for suicidal individuals.
Mr. Harper was asked about scenarios for cell extractions for inmates.
“Normally, what we would do is use the old chemical agents, and nine times out of 10 they would come out,” Mr. Harper said. “But you know, after December [5] we will not be able to use the chemical agent. A cell extraction team will have to be formed to get the individual out to get the individual the help they need.”
Councilwoman Bethany Hallam raised concerns over how the jail reports solitary confinement to board members. She said in June the jail stopped providing reports that provided the total days an inmate had spent in solitary confinement, allowing members to see solitary confinement reports for only 30 days at a time. But Mr. Harper said that monthly reporting was in accordance with the referendum.
Ms. Hallam also said she felt that the whole jail was on lockdown due to the prison’s COVID- 19 confinement schedule, where inmates are kept in their cells for a majority of the day. Mr. Harper said every inmate gets at least one hour out of their cell per day, and no inmates get more than four hours out of their cell per day.
According to Laura Williams, chief deputy of health care services at the jail, there are two inmates out of 1,616 who ar e COVID-19 positive.