Critics allege Allegheny County Jail doesn’t always notify family when inmates are hospitalized
April 03, 2026
TribLive: “Advocates and members of an oversight board criticized the Allegheny County Jail this week for problems with notifying people their incarcerated loved ones have been hospitalized.
They claimed the jail’s notification policy is inconsistently applied, leading to confusion and fear among relatives struggling to get information.
‘What happens now is, the family is not notified and is left to rumors,’ said Jail Oversight Board member Muhammad Ali Nasir, who goes by Man-E. ‘It’s about basic respect and dignity.’
During a contentious board meeting Thursday, some board members pressed their colleagues to adopt a motion directing jail leadership to draft a new notification policy to be presented in June.
But the board voted down the matter 4-2 following a brief but heated debate….
Tanisha Long, with the Abolitionist Law Center, also urged the board to act, recounting what started her on the path of advocacy for those incarcerated.
Long told the board that her mother was incarcerated in Washington County and spent three months in solitary confinement, during which she was hospitalized seven times.”