After Pittsburgh City Paper published seven declarations written by individuals incarcerated at the Allegheny County Jail, including accusations that they experienced potential violations of out-of-cell time requirements, arbitrary use of solitary confinement to punish minor offenses, and intimidation from corrections officers armed with less-lethal weapons, Allegheny County held a press conference on Jan. 15 to deny the allegations.
The declarations from the seven incarcerated individuals were provided to City Paper from the Abolitionist Law Center, an advocacy group and law firm, and were shared with the county with ALC’s permission to get a response on the alleged violations.
The county’s 3 p.m. press conference, which was presented over livestream on the county's website, and Facebook and YouTube accounts, was announced with less than 30 minutes' notice.
“If true, the allegations could have been the basis for disciplinary action up to and including termination, as well as potential criminal charges,” Allegheny County wrote in a subsequent press release. “Accordingly, County Manager William D. McKain CPA and Warden Orlando Harper requested the investigatory assistance of the Allegheny County Police Department and its Internal Affairs division.”
At the press conference, County Police Superintendent Chris Kearns said an investigation found that four of the seven statements from the incarcerated individuals given to an Abolitionist Law Center lawyer contained “errors and...
The DBM released P362 million to accelerate recovery efforts, while a House bill is seeking a P15-billion supplemental budget for Mindanao quake victims Claim: No budget has been allotted to help ...