Debate grows over Allegheny County Jail’s medical emergency notification system
May 31, 2026
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “For days, Tanisha Long had no idea why her mother suddenly stopped calling from jail. The silence terrified her — it went on for two days, then three, then four.
She was used to her mother calling daily while being incarcerated at the Washington County Correctional Facility, where she was serving time for a probation violation.
As time stretched on, Long and her family began calling the jail, searching for answers but turning up nothing.
‘We knew that no matter what was going on, if we weren’t in contact with the jail, she was medically compromised because she had mental health issues that made it hard for her to advocate for herself,’ Long, an advocate with the Abolitionist Law Center, which has offices in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, told the Post-Gazette….
For years, Long said, she’s seen echoes of that experience in an ongoing debate at the Allegheny County Jail: What is the jail’s responsibility for keeping loved ones informed when an incarcerated person experiences a medical emergency?”