April Pre-JOB Call for Comments

on

 The April meeting of the Allegheny County Jail Oversight Board will be held this Thursday April 7 at 4pm. The meeting will be streamed live on the Board's YouTube account, and is open to the public for anyone able to attend in person. Meetings are held in the "Gold Room" on the second floor of the City-County building in downtown Pittsburgh. 

Any concerned residents of the County can submit Public Comments to the Board here, or better yet they can attend in person and deliver their Comments directly to the Board!!! If you plan to give a comment at the meeting, make sure you are in the Gold Room before 4pm. Last month Judge Howsie did not allow people who arrived later to deliver their comments. (boooo)




There is soooooo much to talk about this month. Per usual the past several weeks have not been kind to the Allegheny County Jail, and this coming meeting is going to be a mess. 

So here is some of the stuff that happened since the last meeting:
  • A man named Gerald Thomas had a medical emergency while at the Allegheny County Jail and died at the hospital. Thomas's family held a press conference on March 7th, the day after his death, where they were joined by Brandi Fisher of the Alliance for Police Accountability. Mr. Thomas was 26 years old and his family is deeply suspicious about the circumstances of his death. 
Image from the March 7 press conference. (Paula Reed Ward, Tribute Review.)

  • The Pittsburgh Institute for Nonprofit Journalism released a three-part series on the THIRTEEN men (including Gerald Thomas) who have died after entering ACJ since April 2020. The series covers the dubious death reporting practices of ACJ, and the abject lack of transparency that keeps loved ones and the public in the dark about these deaths.

  • A formerly incarcerated man named Clayton McCray is suing Laura Williams and other medical and administrative Jail staff due to the medical neglect he experienced at ACJ. The neglect ultimately caused an infection that required a below the knee amputation. It's pretty fucked up!!!!!!! If you have some extra cash, please donate to Clayton's GoFundMe, set up by the Abolitionist Law Center.



  • Warden Harper was on the news to defend staffing levels and medical care at the Jail..... and some people incarcerated at the Butler County Prison happened to see it. During the call-in portion of the show an incarcerated man disputed Harper's claims live on the air.

  • The Post-Gazette's Editorial Board published an op-ed calling for effective oversight at the Jail

  • Brad Korinski, who frequently assisted Chelsa Wagner with her JOB duties during her term as County Controller, wrote an absolutely scathing takedown of County Executive Rich Fitzgerald. 

  • The President of the Allegheny County Prison Employee's Independent Union (the union that represents Corrections Officers employed at ACJ) made a number of local media appearances over the past month criticizing Jail administration. He's also very outspoken on Twitter.

Like I said, a rough month for the Allegheny County Jail and for Rich Fitzgerald. Now let's get out there and make their month even worse 😌

See ya Thursday at 4pm, folks. As usual I'll be live tweeting the whole thing at @alleghenyJOB.

Comments

Post a Comment