Letter to the editor: Jail inmates deserve humane care

Another death occurred at the Allegheny County Jail. James Washington, age 42, was in intake on May 7, tested positive for opiates and died the following day.

The recent National Commission on Correctional Health Care’s Mortality Report concerning the Allegheny County Jail stated the following: “The facility has a ‘detox nurse’ working Monday through Friday (day shift only). This sporadically timed assessment is inadequate for the management of these patients. Our review identified multiple patients whose detoxification was poorly managed.” As a top priority, NCCHC recommended “Initiate detoxification monitoring and medication at the time of intake.”

A critical question is whether the deceased was in detoxification, and, if he was, was his condition well-monitored on the weekend?

The jail has 88 vacancies for medical and mental health providers. The jail administration and the Jail Oversight Board have been aware of this lack of staffing in the intake area for years dating back to NCCHC’s 2019 report, which stated, “we observed the nursing staffing was low in the intake area, supervisors report a high attrition rate.”

The doctor in charge of intake needs to act humanely and do the right thing and order detox of individuals needing detox to an outside hospital when the jail staff is not able to provide detox and monitor people’s conditions. Being subject to lawsuits because of negligent care can be much more costly than sending people out for an essential service.

Death is final. Do we care?

John Kenstowicz

Morningside