Faith leaders and community members, including the mother of a 26-year-old man who died this March, honored the 16 men who have died in Allegheny County Jail since April 2020 on Thursday evening at an event organized by the Pittsburgh Interfaith Impact Network.
“If they were not in that jail, they would be alive today,” Brandi Fisher, president of the nonprofit Alliance for Police Accountability, told the crowd outside the Allegheny County Courthouse. “This is not a myth. This is not some hypothetical situation. These are very real lives.”
The event took place right before a tense jail oversight board meeting where the results of a survey taken at the height of the coronavirus pandemic revealed harrowing conditions inside the jail.
The group demanded immediate jail reforms, including timely medical care for incarcerated individuals who request it, giving individuals the ability to modify their emergency contacts, and asking for transparency into the medical records of those who die while behind bars. Some advocates, including Ms. Fisher, called for Warden Orlando Harper to be terminated immediately.
Just one hour after the prayer service, a survey conducted by the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Social Work was presented to the jail oversight board. The survey enumerated numerous issues within the jail during coronavirus lockdown.
Researchers found that most respondents were unhappy with long waits for medical care and improper treatment of chronic conditions, found food unappetizing or unable to meet their dietary needs, and indicated they were unable to maintain personal hygiene without spending their own funds at the commissary.
Because around half of inmates at the jail stay for less than 15 days, the survey focused mostly on those individuals staying longer-term, Erin Dalton, director of the Allegheny County Department of Human Services, explained in her presentation.
Warden Harper was also present to address some of the issues.
“This survey was taken during the height of the COVID pandemic,” he said, adding that this impacted results. “We do everything in our power to service our individuals.”
He said during the height of the lockdown, the jail encountered issues administering medical care, but that improvements had since been made.
Warden Harper said that hygiene items are provided for all new inmates, including things such as soap, socks and deodorant.
“Individuals at our facility don't like the type of items that we have available for them. So they decide amongst themselves to utilize the commissary,” he said.
In a tense exchange, board member Bethany Hallam pushed back: “I'm going to tell you how I know that's a lie. I have been on the pod, where I have seen not even toilet paper available when people need it,” she said. “Are you claiming that these results are a lie and people are lying?”
“We are not lying… We provide these items every single day of the week. So I disagree with you,” Warden Harper said. “We don’t know anything about any toilet paper shortages, Ms. Hallam.”
Another jail official said that providing more clothing to inmates was difficult because of security, and that new laundry accommodations would have to be implemented for additional clothing.
In comments at the end of the survey, inmates reported being unable to receive proper amounts of insulin or bipolar medications, according to Ms. Hallam. She said that people in the survey had also reported finding cockroaches on food carts and pebbles in the food.
“We have an exterminator that comes in twice a week,” Warden Harper said. “We will be putting out an RFP for a food provider.”
An RFP is a request for proposals, sent out by the county to find a new contract.
“We are cleaning more, we are sanitizing more, to make sure we don’t run into these issues again,” Warden Harper said.
Before the meeting, Juana Saunders, the mother of 26-year-old Gerald Thomas who collapsed at the Allegheny County Jail in March, said that she wanted officials to remember that her son was “a human being.” She has been attending oversight board meetings since his death.
Her first wish? “Fire the warden.”
Rebecca Spiess: rspiess@post-gazette.com or @RebeccaSpiessL
First Published: September 1, 2022, 10:56 p.m.
Updated: September 2, 2022, 1:17 p.m.