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Advocacy groups say conditions at Allegheny County Jail need to be addressed more thoroughly.
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A class-action lawsuit filed against a number of Allegheny County judges, probation officials, and the county jail warden alleges that they’re overusing probation detainers to keep people in jail in violation of their state and federal constitutional rights.
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New survey reveals widespread concerns about medical services, food quality at Allegheny County JailTwo-thirds of the people surveyed in late 2021 were “very unhappy” or “somewhat unhappy” with the jail’s medical services. About 72% of respondents were “very dissatisfied” with food in the jail.
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The jail oversight board voted Wednesday to post a job listing and start the hiring process for a jail liaison, who will share reports about the daily ongoings at the jail with the board.
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In the filing, the union claims Allegheny County “has engaged in a campaign of anti-union retaliation and discrimination” against union president Brian Englert, who often posts to Twitter about staffing shortages at the jail, mandatory overtime, and other issues the filing says negatively impact members of the bargaining unit.
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On today’s episode of The Confluence: We speak with an Afghan journalist who fled the country after the U.S. withdrew its military presence, and has spent the last year in Pittsburgh; as Allegheny County is contracting with consultants at the National Commission on Correctional Health Care to review fatalities at the county jail, we ask a researcher what might come of the review; and author David Maraniss has a new biography of Jim Thorpe, one of America’s greatest athletes, who grew up at the Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Today’s guests include: Zubair Babakarkhail, Afghan-born journalist and interpreter; Robin Mejia, director of the Statistics and Human Rights Program at Carnegie Mellon University.
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County Executive Rich Fitzgerald announced earlier this week that the National Commission on Correctional Health Care Resources will conduct a “historical review of fatalities” at the jail.
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Five people incarcerated at the Allegheny County Jail have received GED certificates since April when testing resumed for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Before the shutdown, instructors from the state-run Allegheny Intermediate Unit taught classes in preparation for the test that equates to a high school diploma. Live instruction was paused for two years but students in the program received work packets weekly.
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Public commenters at an Allegheny County Jail Oversight Board meeting on Thursday also voiced concerns about food quality and kitchen sanitation, short staffing, and the quality of medical care at the jail.
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Allegheny County Councilor Bethany Hallam, who sits on the jail's oversight board, said on a recent surprise visit she saw incarcerated people being fed “ground-up bologna” instead of the meal posted on the menu for that day.