The failure to seek out solutions for basic community concerns proves that jail and county officials are not committed to building a rehabilitative environment

Three incarcerated people have died in Pittsburgh since May — though you might not know it even after attending recent jail oversight board meetings. As the number of incarcerated people who have died increases, so, it seems, do county and jail officials’ inaction. Community members, former jail staff and incarcerated individuals continue to say the same thing—it is traumatizing to be in the Allegheny County jail. 

In a survey conducted by Pitt’s School of Social Work assessing conditions at the Allegheny County Jail, one respondent claimed it took over a year for the jail to get their “insulin right,” and added that sometimes they do not receive it at all.

Conditions in Allegheny County Jail are unacceptable and the product of institutional racism.

Vanessa Carter, the vice president of SisTers PGH, spoke about trans rights and prison at Pitt's Honors College Thursday.