FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PITTSBURGH – A federal judge approved an order today to resolve a preliminary injunction motion filed by the Abolitionist Law Center, the law firm Dechert LLP, Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania on behalf of three people incarcerated at the Allegheny County Jail seeking changes to the jail’s practices to protect people in the jail from COVID-19. The consent order requires Allegheny County to follow procedures to reduce the risk of COVID-19 in the jail, including housing people newly admitted to the jail separately from the rest of the jail population for two weeks, housing medically vulnerable people in single cells, and requiring jail staff to wear masks during their shifts
Mr. McGill and Mr. Pratt have finally been released from solitary confinement. Mr. McGill entered solitary confinement in January 2019 and Mr. Pratt had been held for over four months. They were were both punished solely for refusing to cut off their dreadlocks in compliance with their Rastafarian faith.
April 22, 2020
The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PILP) Board of Directors is pleased to announce that they have selected Su Ming Yeh to serve as the new Executive Director for the organization. Ms. Yeh has been the Interim Executive Director since January 2020, and previously served as the Deputy Director. “After a thorough search, we are thrilled that Su Ming Yeh has accepted the position of Executive Director,” said Board President Michael Carroll, “she is a strong leader and brings a deep commitment to prisoners’ rights and an understanding of the legal challenges faced by incarcerated people.”
The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (pailp.org) is the first, and only, civil legal aid organization in the state that focuses on prison issues. PILP has been working on the frontlines, safeguarding prisoners’ rights through legal representation, assistance, advocacy, and resources, for over thirty years.
Read the entire press release here
April 20, 2020
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Andy Hoover, media@aclupa.org, 717-514-2747
Rebecca Susman, rsusman@pailp.org, 412-254-4771
PHILADELPHIA - Ten people who are currently incarcerated in facilities in the Philadelphia Department of Prisons have filed a federal civil rights class action lawsuit against the city and the department over the conditions of the city’s jails.
The lawsuit is on behalf of the plaintiffs and all people who are currently incarcerated and to be incarcerated in the future in the city’s prisons and who are at heightened risk of serious illness or death from COVID-19 due to age, medical condition, or disability. They argue that the conditions of the jails increase the likelihood that they will contract the novel coronavirus and become severely sick from the disease COVID-19 in violation of their Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, their Fourteenth Amendment right to due process, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Read the full press release here.
FCC Allenwood, which houses severely medically-compromised people, cancelled sick call. PILP Advocates for access to medical care, face masks, and complying with social distancing protocols.
Read full letter here.
April 8, 2020
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Andy Hoover, ACLU-PA, media@aclupa.org, 717-514-2747
Bret Grote, Abolitionist Law Center, bretgrote@abolitionistlawcenter.org, 412-654-9070
Rebecca Susman, PA Institutional Law Project, rsusman@pailp.org, 412-254-4771
PITTSBURGH – In the wake of the global pandemic, three people detained at the Allegheny County Jail filed a federal class action lawsuit today against the county, seeking relief from the dangerous conditions putting them and others at risk of exposure to the novel coronavirus and the disease COVID-19. The three plaintiffs are represented by the Abolitionist Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project, and the law firm Dechert LLP.
The Allegheny County Jail reports the release of as many as 600 people in recent weeks, reflecting a 20 percent population drop and earning the county praise for its efforts. However, as the lawsuit notes, Warden Orlando Harper has failed to properly take advantage of the decrease in the population by consolidating housing units in the jail, leaving at least one entire floor completely unoccupied and continuing to house two people per cell.
Read the full press release here
