PITTSBURGH, PA – The agreement reached in Howard v. Williams, a class action lawsuit on behalf of people with psychiatric disabilities incarcerated in Allegheny County Jail (ACJ), has been finalized. On July 30, 2024, the court approved the agreement that resolved the suit originally filed on September 15, 2020. The suit alleged severe and systemic constitutional violations, as well as violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, for the jail’s failure to provide adequate mental health care and its discriminatory and brutal treatment of people with psychiatric disabilities. The agreement outlines substantial changes impacting all people with psychiatric disabilities who are currently, or will in the future, be held at ACJ. The Class is represented by the Abolitionist Law Center (ALC), the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PILP), and Keith Whitson of Raines, Feldman & Littrell LLP.

The lawsuit asserted that ACJ lacked a functioning mental health care system despite housing hundreds of people with psychiatric disabilities, including anxiety, depression, PTSD, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. Every aspect of a comprehensive system for mental health care, from intake screening to medication management, provision of counseling and therapy, suicide prevention, and training, was either non-existent or wholly deficient at ACJ at the time the lawsuit was filed.

“We’re elated that the Court approved an order that provides meaningful relief for the class. But the fight for adequate mental healthcare in ACJ is not over,” said Jaclyn Kurin, staff attorney for the Abolitionist Law Center. “As Class Counsel, we will be vigilant and work with the court-appointed monitor to ensure the jail’s compliance.”

Inadequate staffing has long been an issue at ACJ that has contributed significantly to the lack of adequate care and the jail’s reliance on punishment rather than treatment. With this settlement, the County is committing to hire additional mental health staff, including staff that will be able to provide therapeutic counseling to individuals at ACJ for the first time. The County further has agreed to increase recruitment efforts and maintain minimum mental health staffing levels to ensure appropriate levels of treatment. The agreement includes enforcement provisions allowing Class counsel to ensure these staffing levels are being met.

Other key provisions include ensuring that mental health staff can make clinical decisions without interference from non-medical personnel. Further, the agreement limits the amount of time any person with a mental health condition can be placed in segregation, provides that cages shall not constitute out-of-cell time, requires that people are monitored for mental health decompensation, and provides for “meaningful social interaction and treatment” for all.

“While we welcome the potentially life-saving changes this settlement brings, we can’t forget the bravery of the plaintiffs at the center of this lawsuit who recognize that the mental health care at the Allegheny County Jail fails to meet basic human and civil rights standards,” said Tanisha Long, an organizer with Abolitionist Law Center. “This is just one step in an ongoing battle to get our incarcerated loved ones the care they need at the Allegheny County Jail and we look forward to the County’s quick implementation of the changes outlined in the settlement.”

The settlement will also bring changes to a system that has responded to people in mental health crises with brutal levels of force. People with psychiatric disabilities have been punished for the manifestation of their mental health symptoms, and for simply requesting mental health care. The settlement requires Allegheny County to provide more training, both for mental health staff and correctional officers, and a wide variety of de-escalation measures designed to reduce use of force. The County also has agreed to regular outside reviews and monitoring.

Since the lawsuit was filed, use-of-force incidents have already decreased by 28%, and this agreement builds on progress from a county-wide referendum passed in December 2021.

“This is a landmark agreement that, if followed, has the potential to change Allegheny County Jail from being one of the worst jails in the Commonwealth to a leader in the country in providing appropriate treatment and care for incarcerated individuals with psychiatric disabilities,” said Alexandra Morgan-Kurtz, Deputy Director of the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project. “These comprehensive changes are nothing short of life-changing for our community.”

The final approval order for Howard v. Williams, 20-cv-1389, was filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. The plaintiffs are represented by Alexandra Morgan-Kurtz of the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project; Bret Grote, Jaclyn Kurin, and Dolly Prabhu of Abolitionist Law Center; and Keith E. Whitson of Raines, Feldman & Littrell LLP.

Read important information about the case here.

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The Abolitionist Law Center is a public interest law firm inspired by the struggle of political and politicized prisoners, and organized for the purpose of abolishing class and race-based mass incarceration in the United States. Abolitionist Law Center litigates on behalf of people whose human rights have been violated in prison, educates the general public about the evils of mass incarceration, and works to develop a mass movement against the American punishment system by building alliances and nurturing solidarity across social divisions. Follow Abolitionist Law Center on Facebook, @AbolitionistLC on Twitter, and @Abolitionistlc on Instagram.

The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PILP) protects and advances the constitutional and civil rights of people incarcerated in Pennsylvania through litigation, advocacy, and legal advice.