SHAYLA HOLMES, with B-PEP, says the conditions that jail inmates have to endure are “inhumane.” (Photo by Rob Taylor Jr.)
Black organizations demand change there for inmates now
Some largely-Black, influential community organizations have just about had it with Allegheny County Jail leadership.
The Black Political Empowerment Project, Alliance for Police Accountability, and members of other groups stood in solidarity in the Hill District, Oct. 2, condemning yet another death that occurred at the Allegheny County Jail. The September death of 57-year-old Anthony Talotta marked the 17th person to die at the jail or at the hospital after being found unresponsive in the jail in the past 18 months.
But it doesn’t stop there. Tim Stevens, Chairman and CEO of B-PEP, outlined in a “position paper” addressed to County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, Warden Orlando Harper and the Jail Oversight Board what he called very disturbing revelations of roaches, mildew and other sanitary violations that those who are inside the jail have to live with.
KIM WILLIAMS (PHOTOS BY J.L. MARTELLO)
But it still doesn’t stop there. Kim Williams, with the Alliance for Police Accountability, also detailed at the Oct. 3 news conference the revelation of women at the jail having to use socks as maxi pads.
Put it all together, and the two organizations were this close to demanding that Harper, the jail warden, who is Black, be removed from his position.
“You’re not doing your job,” Williams, APA’s civic engagement coordinator, said about Harper. “We need you to do your job, do something about what’s going on down there. People have been begging, ‘Please do this, please do that,’ and it’s the lack of not doing so.”
“There are organizations that have actually called for his dismissal,” Stevens added. “B-PEP as an organization has not called for his dismissal, but we did say if these things are not managed expeditiously and effectively, then there needs to be a serious examination of the possibility of his termination.”
In reports released by the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work and the Pittsburgh Institute for Nonprofit Journalism this year, there were findings of unhealthy, unsafe and inhumane conditions at the jail. The Pittsburgh Institute for Nonprofit Journalism report included that mice were eating into the bags of food located in the kitchen, and that roaches were seen crawling on the kitchen walls. In the Pitt study, those inside the jail reported being served meals that had roaches crawling in them, and that overall, 25 percent of the prisoners said they had sufficient blankets to stay warm at night.
Other findings from the Pitt study were that essential medications, such as insulin for diabetics, were withheld for days, dental visits were delayed for as long as a year, and 88 percent said they went to bed hungry at night.
Stevens said he wants the jail to immediately “hire a professional, commercial exterminator who will guarantee the killing of the roaches, eliminate the mice, and seal the doorways and holes in the building where they are entering the facility.” He also wants to remove people who “don’t belong in jail, including people suffering from addiction and mental health issues. We are encouraged by the fact that the population of the jail has decreased during the pandemic,” Stevens said, “but more work must be done to remove those individuals who should simply not be in a jail facility.”
Stevens said to oversee a facility that subjects its residents to inhumane conditions “is terrible. But to fail to act, once you have been confronted with the facts, is worse.”
Stevens passed the microphone over to Shayla Holmes, executive assistant for B-PEP, the Greater Pittsburgh Coalition Against Violence and the Corporate Equity Inclusion Roundtable. Holmes has a male friend who recently was released from the jail, but never being convicted of a crime; instead, his court date kept getting postponed, prolonging his jail stay. “He was in the process of getting ready to have a new baby, as his fiancee was nine months pregnant,” Holmes said. “He almost missed the birth of his child all because they kept postponing his date to be seen….just because they may be labeled as criminals doesn’t take from the humanity that they should be shown.”
REV. MICHAEL DAY, LEGACY INTERNATIONAL WORSHIP CENTER.
Reverend Michael A. Day of Legacy International Worship Center then spoke at the news conference, and was in shock that some people who have pets at home seem to be treated better than actual humans in the Allegheny County Jail.
And as far as the deaths at the jail? “I deal with young people daily,” Rev. Day said, “one of our young people just got out of the county jail, and to hear the number (of deaths at the jail), I am grateful he’s alive…it is alarming as a father, if my son or daughter ends up down there (at the jail), we have to question if they’re going to come out alive.”
“This is a very serious situation,” added Williams, who spoke after Rev. Day at the Oct. 3 news conference. “We cannot tolerate what’s happening down in the ACJ any longer. Not only do the residents have roaches in their food, but the young ladies down there are using their socks for maxi pads. Any time we have to use a sock for a maxi pad, we’re not being given our hygiene products. It’s a shame and it’s a crime.”
Late Tuesday, Oct. 4, Warden Harper and members of the jail administration responded to the news conference called by Stevens a day earlier.
“We welcomed this (Pitt) survey done in conjunction with the Jail Oversight Board (JOB), put the results out publicly, had a public presentation on its contents and discussed it at last month’s JOB meeting, are providing a written response at the request of the board, and will discuss it again in this month’s meeting. The board has entered the survey and those responses into their public record and we’re providing the written response in this press release to further promote transparency around it,” Harper said, his comments obtained by the Courier. “It’s extremely frustrating that we have embraced this survey as a tool to improve the jail, yet a press conference is held to accuse us of mistreatment without any attempt by Mr. Stevens or others to contact us to discuss his concerns. We take offense to the misstatements and misrepresentations put forth. We welcome all comments, but a press conference is not the proper venue for that conversation. If the goal is to cause more chaos, then we will never be able to move forward.”
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