Jail Oversight Board approves new color for inmate uniforms

Allegheny County’s Jail Oversight Board voted, 9-0, on Thursday to change the color of inmate uniforms from red to either blue, green or violet — a victory for County Council member Bethany Hallam, who sits on the board and had a similar proposal fail last October.

This is a different board, with multiple different members. Ms. Hallam’s proposal was supported this time by the three new citizen members, Barbara Griffin, Muhammad Ali Nasir (also known as MAN-E) and Rob Perkins. It also got the support of Susan Evashavik DiLucente, president judge of the Fifth Judicial District of Pennsylvania (Allegheny County) and Judge Kelly Eileen Bigley, both also new to the board. Newly elected county Executive Sara Innamorato supported it. County Controller Corey O’Connor, who supported Ms. Hallam’s plan in October, voted for it again. Sheriff Kevin Kraus, who voted no in October, expressed no objection this time.

Sheriff’s spokesman Mike Manko said Mr. Kraus’ previous objection “dealt with the fact that at that point, the proposal was somewhat ambiguous and was being voted on without any budget allocation.”

Ms. Hallam said studies have shown that red, the current uniform color, can cause increased mental health issues and anxiety for those incarcerated. According to a magazine article posted on the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs’ website, “Studies have shown that red causes a significantly greater response in heart rate, respiration, brain wave activity, and other nervous system functions than green or blue.”

“Orange and yellow produce similar but lesser reactions than red, while green and violet produce reactions comparable to blue,” according to the article, published in Corrections Today in April 1992.

Originally, Ms. Hallam’s proposal was to change the color from red to yellow, but she amended it to green. Ms. Innamorato said she was concerned about making the jail administration commit to that one color. She and Ms. Hallam briefly went back and forth on what colors to pick, before the latter agreed to Ms. Innamorato’s request to allow jail administration to pick between blue, green or violet.

The county has already budgeted the money — about $500,000 — for the new uniforms, but it’s unclear how quickly the new uniform colors would be in place, and Judge DiLucente, chair of the board, declined to answer questions about that after the meeting Thursday.

The board also passed a proposal by Ms. Innamorato and Mr. O’Connor “directing [jail] and [health care] staff [to] adopt best practices regarding screening for autism spectrum disorder and implement appropriate assessments during intake and processing, as soon as practicable.” That passed 9-0, as well.

He and Ms. Innamorato said the change was long overdue, and that it was important for the jail to figure out who might be on the spectrum as they enter the facility’s custody.

“These things take time, because we want to make sure that we do them right, and embed them into best practices and make sure they’re adopted across the system,” Ms. Innamorato said.

The board agreed Thursday to complete drafting its bylaws before appointing members to subcommittees.