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Allegheny County Jail Agrees to “Fundamental Shift” in Mental Health Care

Date: March 20, 2024
Pittsburgh, PA – The Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh has agreed to significant increases in mental health staffing and training on use of force and restraint under a proposed settlement filed Tuesday in federal court. The agreement, which requires judicial approval, is a proposed resolution of a class action lawsuit filed in 2020 by Whiteford’s Keith Whitson and lawyers from the Abolitionist Law Center and the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project. The settlement is responsive to accusations that the jail offered inadequate treatment for inmates with mental health disabilities, and often punished them with extended solitary confinement or excessive force.
 
The order “heralds a fundamental shift” in how mental health is addressed in the jail, said Mr. Whitson. The settlement provisions would deliver “meaningful changes that will have a substantial impact on individuals incarcerated at ACJ and their families.” 
 
The proposed settlement is expected to attract wide interest. Concern over treatment of people incarcerated with mental health issues has led to numerous other lawsuits in Pennsylvania and around the country. The Allegheny County jail had one of the highest suicide rates among large county correctional facilities in Pennsylvania. Since the lawsuit was filed, use of force incidents at the jail have already decreased by 28%.
 
According to Mr. Whitson, “Incarcerated individuals with mental health conditions will now have psychotherapy available, private interview spaces for counseling sessions and interactions with mental health staff, time frames in which mental health encounters must occur, new educational programming, and a renewed focus on treatment, de-escalation and reduction of use of force.” The 38 page proposed consent order details the myriad significant requirements to which the Jail will be bound upon court approval.
 
The settlement would require the jail to maintain substantial compliance for at least two years before court supervision would end.
The consent order and judgment for Howard v. Williams, 20-cv-1989, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Plaintiffs are represented by Keith E. Whitson of Whiteford; Alexandra Morgan-Kurtz of the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project; and Bret Grote, Jaclyn Kurin, and Dolly Prabhu of Abolitionist Law Center.

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