Officers named have been subject to repeated investigations, highlighting a persistent culture of violence in jail with most use of force incidents in PA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Connease Warren, Abolitionist Law Center, 713-304-8990, connease@alcenter.org

PITTSBURGH – Kush Wilkerson, a 29-year-old pretrial detainee at the Allegheny County Jail (ACJ), has filed a lawsuit against several correctional officers who brutally assaulted him. He is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, requesting a jury trial, and wants to bring public awareness to the manner in which incarcerated people are treated in Allegheny County. The July 2023 assault detailed in the lawsuit caused serious physical and mental injuries to Mr. Wilkerson, who has well-documented psychiatric disabilities. The effects of the brutal assault persist to this day – including headaches, a worsened memory, a persistent eye glare, nearly daily rectal bleeding, increased anxiety and paranoia, routine nightmares, and vivid flashbacks. Mr. Wilkerson is represented by the Abolitionist Law Center (ALC).

Sergeant Hunter Sarver, the main perpetrator of the assault, tased Mr. Wilkerson four times, including in his genital area and anus. Mr. Wilkerson was fully handcuffed when Defendant Sarver deployed the taser in his anus. The assault continued in several locations throughout the jail and was joined by 8-10 officers who punched, kicked, and rammed Mr. Wilkerson’s head into  the back of an elevator as they berated him with racial and sexual slurs. At least once, Mr. Wilkerson lost consciousness and several other incarcerated people yelled and threw coffee and water in an effort to try and stop the assault. Once moved into a cell, Defendant Sarver strip searched Mr. Wilkerson while hurling threats of more sexual violence.

“Nobody deserves what happened to me,” said Mr. Wilkerson. “It’s something that will be with me for the rest of my life. I feel the effects of what happened to me both physically and mentally every day. If we can hold these people accountable, maybe it can save someone from being a victim of excessive force in the future.”

Defendant Sarver has been linked to many other use-of-force incidents at the jail and named in many complaints and lawsuits. A May 27, 2025 investigation by Public Source that features seven filed lawsuits against Defendant Sarver eerily echoes similar incidents of excessive force and sexualized violence detailed in Mr. Wilkerson’s complaint. 

Even in a jail whose statistics rank highest in the state for uses of excessive force across several categories, the details of Mr. Wilkerson’s lawsuit stand out as particularly brutal and highlight a persistent culture of abuse. In 2023, when the assault against Mr. Wilkerson occurred, ACJ had the highest number—by a substantial margin—of physical assaults by corrections officers on incarcerated individuals of all the county jails in Pennsylvania, accounting for approximately 13% of the statewide total county jail assaults despite being only 6.6% of PA’s total county jail population. And officers have routinely and wantonly exerted force on the population of individuals, like Mr. Wilkerson, with psychiatric disabilities incarcerated at ACJ, more than 90% of whom are pretrial detainees who are not serving a sentence for a criminal conviction. ACJ’s use of stun devices on incarcerated individuals, which were used multiple times in the assault on Mr. Wilkerson is the highest in the state—used more than five times as often as the second highest county, accounting for nearly half (43%) of the statewide total.

“Allegheny County Jail has long been an outlier among Pennsylvania jails for its staggeringly high use of force numbers,” said Dolly Prabhu, staff attorney at the Abolitionist Law Center. “Partly to blame is the lack of accountability for problematic correctional officers who have been able to act with impunity for far too long, leading to a culture of violence and cruelty in the jail that makes stories like Mr. Wilkerson’s all too commonplace.”

Supervisors are also named as defendants for failures to adequately train, supervise, and discipline ACJ corrections officers with extensive history of using excessive force on incarcerated individuals and assaulting incarcerated people with psychiatric disabilities. Rampant systemic failures contribute to ACJ officers’ routine use of force, such as deployment of tasers and blunt physical force that goes beyond preventing injury or harm to individuals with psychiatric disabilities. Despite knowledge of routine uses of excessive force, supervising officers did nothing to prevent the assault on Mr. Wilkerson that subjected him to unconstitutional force by corrections staff.

“Kush Wilkerson survived a violent assault at the hands of corrections officers, resulting in both  physical and psychological trauma. While this occurred under the previous jail administration, the culture of violence and those who committed the assault still remain. In order to protect our most vulnerable community members, the Allegheny County Jail must make significant cultural and staffing changes in order to end the violence against incarcerated people,” said Tanisha Long, community organizer at the Abolitionist Law Center. 

Along with several claims of excessive force, Mr. Wilkerson is also bringing claims under the American with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act as a qualified individual with psychiatric disabilities who faced discrimination on that basis. He is seeking compensatory relief, punitive damages, and a jury trial. 

“I’ve known Kush for several years as a promising young hip hop artist. I’m outraged at this brutal and cowardly assault,” said Saleem Holbrook, Executive Director of the Abolitionist Law Center. “The behavior and depravity by the defendants outlined in the complaint can only demonstrate an atmosphere where this behavior is tolerated or ignored. If this is business as usual at ACJ, this complaint will be the one to put an end to it.” 

The lawsuit, Wilkerson v. Sarver 2:25-cv-919, was filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, seeking jury trial along with compensatory and punitive damages. The plaintiff is represented by Dolly Prabhu, Jaclyn Kurin, and Bret Grote of Abolitionist Law Center.

Read the full complaint.

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The Abolitionist Law Center  is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, movement law firm and community organizing project inspired by the struggle of political and politicized prisoners. ALC is led by those who’ve been directly impacted by the criminal punishment system and other forms of state violence, including currently and formerly incarcerated people and their loved ones.

We wield class action and impact litigation on behalf of people whose human rights have been violated by jails, prisons, policing, and other carceral institutions. We engage in grassroots advocacy, base building, research and public education, pressure campaigns, media outreach, and other strategic communications. And we challenge U.S.-based corporate and governmental entities that perpetrate and support carceral violence and wars abroad. Follow  @Abolitionistlc on Instagram, Abolitionist Law Center on Facebook, and @abolitionistlawcenter.org on Bluesky.