Inmates at Allegheny County Jail sue over dangers to their mental health

A group of inmates at the Allegheny County Jail have filed a federal lawsuit alleging a gross failure to care for their mental health, citing an environment in which staff belittle, abuse and mock them.

The 60-page filing, which seeks class-action status, lays out in detail allegations of excessive use of solitary confinement for mentally ill individuals; the use of a restraint chair for hours at a time; implications by officers that inmates ought to kill themselves and punishment following suicide attempts.

The lack of care, the complaint said, leads to psychological pain, decompensation, increased disciplinary infractions, excessive use of force and an elevated risk of self-harm.

“People leave ACJ worse than they entered, at risk for debilitating flashbacks, anxiety, depression and suicidality,” the lawsuit said, calling correctional officers hostile to inmates’ mental health needs and to psychiatrists’ efforts to meet and treat their patients.

It further claims that the jail medical facilities have inadequate resources. They are severely understaffed, the suit says, and the administration has failed to properly train the staff they do have.

The lawsuit seeks injunctive relief to prohibit the staff from continuing to violate the plaintiffs’ rights, to require the jail to provide adequate mental health care, and to prevent staff from punishing plaintiffs when they seek help.

During a news conference on Tuesday morning, attorneys for the plaintiffs demanded a leadership change at the jail.

“It’s long overdue,” said Bret Grote, the legal director for the Abolitionist Law Center, one of the organizations that filed the complaint.

The fact that there has not been any administrative changes at the jail, he continued, shows “an appalling lack of concern for the conditions there and the communities in the jail on the part of our county executive.”

Alexandra Morgan-Kurtz, the managing attorney at the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project, said that it is appalling that the jail’s top health care and mental health facilities administrators have no health care experience at all.

Among the federal claims in the complaint are: failure to provide adequate mental health care; unconstitutional use of solitary confinement; excessive use of force; violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act; violations of due process rights and failure to train.

Attorneys with Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis joined the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project and the Abolitionist Law Center in the suit.

Jaclyn Kurin, a staff attorney with the Abolitionist Law Center, said the lawsuit was the result of a year-and-a-half investigation that included 400 interviews of more than 100 people previously or currently in the jail, conducted by the center, as well as law students at the University of Pittsburgh.

Those interviews were conducted in-person, on the phone and through video conferencing, she said.

In addition, Kurin noted that they spoke at length with former corrections officers and health care staff members.

“They all confirm the reflexive, unconstitutional use of excessive force and routine denial of care,” she said.

The lawsuit said that the Allegheny County facility has one of the highest suicide rates for a jail in the country — with nine suicides there since 2016. It also cites statistics showing that an estimated 64% of people in jail have a mental health condition.

The plaintiffs include five people who are current residents of the jail who have been subjected to solitary confinement, OC spray, tasing, restraint chair and physical assault. They are: Shaquille Howard, 27; James Byrd, 41; Jason Porter; Keisha Cohen, 24; Albert Castaphany, 31.

The defendants include Allegheny County, as well as Warden Orlando Harper; Chief Deputy Warden Laura Williams, who is in charge of health care; and Mental Health Director Michael Barfield.

Allegheny County Communications Director Amie Downs said the county does not comment on pending litigation.

The lawsuit contends the lack of care begins at intake and that there is no individual counseling or trauma therapy available.

“Due to the severe staffing shortages and lack of appropriate training, rather than provide any meaningful counseling, mental health staff simply ‘make rounds’ during which they only ask patients how they are doing and whether they want to hurt themselves,” the complaint said.

It alleges that there was not a full-time psychiatrist from February to August 2020 and that as of Aug. 6, there were 49 health care vacancies at the jail, making up approximately 40% of the total health care staff.

Those included two psychiatrists, four mental health registered nurses, seven licensed practice nurses and 14 registered nurses.

The lack of mental health care at the jail results in the repeated use of brutal force against inmates there, according to the court filing.

Among the techniques used, the complaint said, are OC spray, tasers, stun shields, extraction teams, forced nudity and immobilization in a restraint chair, which immobilizes a person’s arms and legs and then attached to the floor facing a blank wall, is common and often lasts for hours.

The complaint alleges that force is regularly used without pursuing any other alternative, even when the person presents no risk to self or others.

The lawsuit includes an allegation that Harper ordered staff in the men’s Restricted Housing Unit to withhold privileges or use force against anyone requesting mental health care “to compel the person requesting help to be silent.”

The complaint describes solitary confinement at the jail — also known as the Restricted Housing Unit — as 23 hours per day in a 10 by 7 foot cell, often with no reading materials or hygiene products. It can lead to adverse psychological symptoms and is exacerbated in people with mental health problems, the lawsuit continued.

“The widespread use of solitary confinement on people with psychiatric disabilities at ACJ causes severe harm, resulting in class members leaving ACJ in worse condition than when they arrived, causing additional burdens and challenges to successful re-integration, and thereby contributing to a cycle of recidivism.”

The lawsuit notes that 67% of the jail population is Black, even though Black people make up only 13% of the county population.

“The Allegheny County Jail operates as the dark vortex of racial oppression in this county, fueling the cycle of trauma and violence,” Grote said.

Plaintiff Shaquille Howard has been at the jail since June 2017 and has adjustment disorder with anxiety, depression and PTSD.

The lawsuit alleges that more than half of his time in the jail has been spent in solitary confinement.

Howard, it said, has requested mental health care, including counseling or therapy, and been denied, with officers telling him he can only receive treatment if he is suicidal.

“After mental health staff and correctional officers ignored his repeated requests for treatment, and an officer actually encouraged him to commit suicide, Mr. Howard felt that the only course of action to get help was to kill himself. On Feb. 10, 2020, while in solitary, Mr. Howard attempted to hang himself,” the lawsuit said.

Howard was initially disciplined, it continued, with officials “finding that he was not truly trying to kill himself but merely was trying to get help. They accused him of ‘being manipulative for secondary gain.’ ”

The jail eventually dismissed the misconduct charge.

Cohen has schizoaffective disorder, manic depressive disorder, anxiety, depression and PTSD. She has been at the jail since January. The complaint alleges that corrections officers discouraged her from requesting mental health treatment, calling her “crazy,” and told her to “‘suck it up.’”

In February, Cohen tried to create a noose from her shirt to hang herself.

“When a corrections officer learned that she was attempting suicide, he threatened to tase Ms. Cohen if she did not cease her suicide attempt,” the complaint said.

Castaphany has been in the jail since May 2019 and has anxiety, depression and PTSD.

The lawsuit alleges that on Jan. 8 there was a fight on his pod which Castaphany was not involved in. However, as he tried to return to his cell, a sergeant pointed a taser at his face and ordered him to the ground, the complaint said.

“Even though Mr. Castaphany complied, he was tased before he could get on the ground,” the complaint said. “Once cuffed on the ground, the sergeant and two other correction officers continued to tase, punch, and mace him in the face.”

He was then placed in a restraint chair for eight hours, with no opportunity to wash the mace off his face.

After that, it continued, as Castaphany was being moved to solitary confinement, he asked for mental health care and was told that he could only be seen if he was suicidal.

“Eventually, Mr. Castaphany was placed on suicide watch. While in the strip cage, he was given a smock to wear, which wraps around the torso, is secured by Velcro, and is colored green like a Christmas tree,” the lawsuit said. “While escorting Mr. Castaphany across the 8E pod to suicide watch on 5C, corrections officers and others began singing ‘Oh, Christmas Tree. Oh, Christmas Tree.’ ”

Porter, the lawsuit said, is blind in his left eye from being shot in the face and also has severe anxiety, depression and PTSD.

Since his admission in August 2019, Porter has spent almost his entire time at the jail in administrative custody because staff fears that his vision impairment would pose a problem for him in general population, the lawsuit said.

Porter was approved for surgery to resolve his vision problems, the complaint said, but accuses Williams of cancelling the procedure and refusing to reschedule it.

“Recently, when his requests to speak with someone from mental health continued to be ignored, he told medical staff that he was feeling suicidal. Medical staff alerted the mental health department, and when mental health staff arrived, Mr. Porter explained that he was not really suicidal but said so because that was the only way he could actually speak to someone. The staff person then walked away without listening to his concerns.”

The complaint also alleges that when Porter held the slot open in his cell door to interrupt the destruction of his property during a shakedown in his unit on Jan. 23, an officer tased him, slammed his head on the ground and put him in a restraint chair for at least six hours.

Byrd has been held at the jail since February 2015 and has anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder and PTSD.

He has been placed in solitary confinement several dozen times, the complaint said, and consistently since 2018. Also during that time, correctional officers have used force on Byrd more than 20 times.

He has also been placed in the restraint chair repeatedly, including once for 28 hours.

For much of that time, the complaint said, he has been denied contact visits, commissary and phone privileges, preventing him from speaking with his mother who has terminal cancer.

In May, the lawsuit said, Byrd attempted to kill himself by overdosing on medications three times. His medical records read, “it was decided this was not true suicidal behavior, but was a maladaptive behavior for secondary gain, reflecting symptoms of his personality disorder.”