Whistleblower goes back in ‘the hole’ at Dauphin County jail after fight over legal papers
PennLive Patriot-News, 06/19/24: “Three months ago, Taji Abdullah spoke out publicly about Dauphin County jailers cutting the power and lights to a restricted housing unit known as ‘the hole,’ where he was being held.
Last week, he got into a fight with corrections officers, was pepper sprayed and taken back to that segregation unit, where he can’t be reached.
His mother fears the incident last Tuesday is retaliation against her 26-year-old son for telling PennLive about oppressive conditions inside the jail, where at least 21 people have died since 2019.
County officials say the matter is being investigated by internal affairs.
The details Abdullah shared with PennLIVE about jail conditions for a March 13 article, including that power was cut for more than two weeks in November, alarmed advocates.
‘Solitary confinement without electricity and lights for more than two weeks is torture,’ Bret Grote, legal director of the Abolitionist Law Center, told PennLive in March. ‘It is illegal and indefensible, no matter the pretext.'”