Allegheny County Jail staffing audit announced; medical demands made before oversight meeting
An audit of staffing at the Allegheny County Jail was announced by the controller's office Thursday, ahead of a jail oversight board meeting where medical conditions were a heated debate.
Watch the report from downtown Pittsburgh: Click the video player above.
Faith and community leaders gathered outside the county courthouse before Thursday's meeting and read the names of all 16 inmates who died at the jail between April 2020 and August 2022.
"If you've done something wrong, we're OK with the justice system. But the fact of the matter is you shouldn't die in the county jail," said the Rev. Richard Freeman, president of the Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network.
PIIN is making demands to the oversight board, including that inmates receive medical care at their request at no cost; that family members be allowed immediate access to an inmate when hospitalized; and transparency into medical records when an inmate dies.
County Controller Corey O'Connor, who is also a member of the jail oversight board, said a staffing audit is something that has not been done since 2009.
"Things have changed, so I think the audit on staffing is going to go a long way to helping everybody out," he said. "And I think that's what our goal is in this office, is always to get data, be as transparent as we possibly can be and then work through whatever those problems we find out need solved."
O'Connor said he hopes to start the audit this fall and finish it in the spring.
As for the medical demands, PIIN said they want those changes in place now.
