Troubled jail needs independent oversight
With a rash of jail deaths, acute staff shortages, doubts about the county’s compliance with a ban on solitary confinement and a call by the employees’ union for Warden Orlando Harper’s resignation, the Allegheny County Jail appears to be in turmoil. We say “appears” because it’s hard to know exactly what’s going on, given a barrage of allegations and rebuttals and an ongoing beef between jail administrators and reform advocates.
Disputes between jail administrators and some members of the Jail Oversight Board have made identifying and fixing problems nearly impossible. Without outside help, the county faces a likely lawsuit, more inmate deaths, allegations of abuse, deteriorating morale among employees, ongoing staff shortages, and nagging questions concerning the jail’s compliance with the referendum.
“He [Harper] is breaking the law,” County Councilwoman Bethany Hallam, a member of the Jail Oversight Board, told the Post-Gazette’s editorial page editor.
Given what the public knows, however, it’s too early to call for Mr. Harper’s resignation. Appointed in 2012, the warden has run model education and re-entry programs to cut recidivism and prepare inmates for better lives — important initiatives that get scant public attention.
Even so, Mr. Harper can’t solve the jail’s problems by himself, especially when he doesn’t acknowledge them. It’s time for independent oversight, possibly through a jail compliance officer who reports directly to County Executive Rich Fitzgerald. At minimum, Fitzgerald should hire a consulting team to review jail operations and develop recommendations for improvements.
A failure to communicate
Human rights groups call solitary confinement, often a toxic substitute for mental health care, a form of torture. Eliminating it, except for emergencies and jail lockdowns, is a righteous cause mandated by a May 2021 referendum that also banned chemical agents, restraint chairs and leg shackles.
Mr. Harper maintains the jail complies with the referendum, but he has acknowledged the jail needs to do a better job providing detailed data on compliance. “Safety” was cited for nearly 300 instances of solitary confinement reported in January, for example, even though most of them were actually COVIDrelated quarantines or, Harper said, inmates who chose not to leave their cells for the full four hours of mandated recreation time.
Communication, however, is a two-way street. From the start, reform advocates did little to nurture buy-in from jail administrators. County officials told a Post-Gazette editor during a tour of the jail that referendum supporters never consulted them about jail operations or logistics.
A jail compliance officer could take over monitoring adherence to the referendum and prepare detailed monthly reports to the Jail Oversight Board, as the law requires. Mr. Harper should welcome that assistance.
Staff shortages are even more troubling, especially reports that numerous shifts have lacked medical staff for jail intake. Without proper screening to identify prisoners’ physical, medical and psychological needs, a pre-trial stint in the county jail can morph into a death sentence. Agonizing, unmedicated withdrawal from drugs or alcohol can cause seizures, heart attacks and death. Unchecked mental health issues can result in suicides. Corrections officers need proper training to distribute prescriptions and psychotropic medications.
The jail, with roughly 378 fulltime corrections officers and more than 1,500 inmates — down considerably from pre-COVID levels — is short at least 50 officers, said union President Brian Englert. Jail administrators have taken steps to improve recruiting, including ondemand pre-employment testing and social media advertising, but it needs to do more direct outreach to high school students and others. The county also should consider raising the $22-an-hour starting pay for corrections officers.
Too many deaths
Ten Allegheny County prisoners — males with an average age of 46 — died from April 11, 2020, to Oct. 9, 2021, a high number for a jail this size. Two were apparent suicides. Since October, up to three more have died.
Many prisoners enter jails in poor health. Still, many deaths are easily preventable, and some have led to costly lawsuits.
A jail compliance officer could report those deaths accurately to the oversight board and state and federal agencies. The under-reporting of in-custody deaths is a national scandal. Allegheny County should not become part of it. Most jail prisoners are pre-trial detainees without convictions or have been convicted of minor offenses.
Dedicated Allegheny County Jail employees do some outstanding work, especially in education and re-entry. Still, problems inside have become increasingly grave. Without independent oversight initiated by Mr. Fitzgerald, they could fester and explode.