Community Groups Demand An End To Controversial Training Contract At Allegheny County Jail
WESA, 09/15/21: “Half a dozen community groups called on members of the Allegheny County Jail Oversight Board to cancel a training contract at the jail Wednesday.
At a press conference outside the City-County Building, organizers criticized the company hired to provide the training, saying its methods defy a spring referendum which banned certain practices at the jail.
The training, provided by Corrections Special Application Unit (C-SAU), arms corrections officers with rubber projectiles to use when an inmate refuses to exit their cell. Warden Orlando Harper has argued those tactics are necessary to replace leg shackles, restraint chairs and pepper spray banned by voters this spring.
Voters overwhelmingly passed an ordinance that also bans many uses of solitary confinement. The jail is currently working to bring its policies into compliance with the referendum by December.”