To Combat Soaring Overdose Rates in Pennsylvania, New Initiative Pushes for Lifesaving Medications to People in Jails

As overdose deaths soar in Pennsylvania and the national epidemic reaches historic heights, the Vital Strategies Overdose Prevention Program and the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project launched a new initiative to increase access to life-saving medication for people with opioid use disorder in jails across the Commonwealth. The effort will be powered by a new statewide advocacy network of lawyers, advocates, currently and formerly incarcerated people, their loved ones, and other stakeholders.

The Pa. Corrections Department shouldn’t renew its contract with Smart Communications. This is why | Opinion

Other than the COVID-19 restrictions, the Pennsylvania Department of Correction’s (DOC) decision to contract with Smart Communications in Florida has been the most harmful policy change in recent times, in terms of its adverse impact on the everyday lives of incarcerated people.

Settlement Reached After Man Endures Dehumanizing Experience in Pennsylvania DOC “Dry Cell”

Briaheen Thomas, a 45-year-old man formerly of Philadelphia, has reached a settlement with the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC) following a lawsuit filed in 2016 in which he alleged that four prison officials violated his constitutional rights when they held him in inhumane conditions in a “dry cell.”

Prisoners’ Rights Groups Commend Allegheny County Jail on Improved COVID-19 Intake Testing Policy

The Allegheny County Jail has agreed to begin administering COVID-19 tests to everyone admitted to the jail before they are moved into general population housing in response to demands from lawyers representing incarcerated persons in a class action lawsuit challenging the jail’s failure to protect them from COVID-19.

PILP Files Civil Lawsuit On Behalf of Man Who Nearly Died After Diabetes Misdiagnosis

The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PILP) has filed a civil rights complaint on behalf of a man who says that a misdiagnosis nearly led to his death. The lawsuit alleges that Federal Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”) employees incorrectly identified Edward Kavanaugh, 39, as a Type II Diabetic in 2011, rather than acknowledging his previous diagnosis of Type I Diabetes.