Women inside Philly jail banged on cells for hours before Amanda Cahill died, “reiterating her calls for help”
Kensington Voice, 09/16/24: “Before Amanda Cahill died in a Philly jail cell following a Kensington police sweep earlier this month, ‘she was screaming’ for help and others banged on their cells for hours trying to get her medical attention, according to multiple first-hand accounts from other women who were incarcerated near Cahill.
‘I heard her banging on her cell door,’ wrote one woman, whose name has been withheld for privacy reasons, in an email to Kensington Voice. ‘She was screaming “help” for over an hour. We all heard her.’
Three women who were incarcerated inside the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center (PICC) shared similar stories with the Abolitionist Law Center (ALC), according to Sam Lew, the Philly jails organizer for ALC. The women told Lew that people in the unit spent hours banging on their cell doors trying to get Cahill medical attention.
‘She was definitely suffering enough that [people] were reiterating her calls for help,’ Lew said. ‘They said the banging was so loud that people couldn’t sleep,’ Lew said. ‘That means it couldn’t have been ignored, except for willfully.’
Cahill, 31, was pronounced dead on Sept. 7 at PICC following a 7:36 a.m. emergency medical services dispatch.
A nurse visited Cahill at 1 a.m., according to a statement released by John Mitchell, communications director for the Philadelphia Department of Prisons. A nurse then found her unresponsive at 7:30 a.m., Mitchell said.
She was incarcerated there after the Philadelphia Police Department arrested her alongside 33 others during a coordinated police sweep under Mayor Cherelle Parker’s Kensington initiative targeting narcotics violations and outstanding warrants.”