Two months after a group of inmates beat a man to death inside the Allegheny County Jail, binding his wrists with a mesh bag and leaving his cell spattered with blood, it remains unclear how such a brazen attack could be carried out under the noses of corrections officers tasked with monitoring nearly 1,700 people at the lockup.

As an internal review into the midday death in May of Tyrone Good continues, questions linger: Why did officers fail to prevent or interrupt the attack? Does the incident point to broader issues of safety and security at the lockup on the edge of Downtown Pittsburgh? And what are jail administrators doing to address any security weaknesses?

Brian Englert, president of the union representing corrections officers, is concerned. He recently filed a report with Warden Trevor Wingard saying that Good’s death should trigger a reexamination of security measures, training, staffing and relationships among officers, administration and those with influence on jail policy…..

Advocates say learning what happened in the Good attack is essential.

While an internal investigation is important, Tanisha Long, a community organizer with the Abolitionist Law Center, believes there should be an independent review, as well.

‘I think that with the likelihood that a corrections officer was involved, and the ACJ’s history of failing to hold corrections officers accountable, an internal review cannot be entirely trusted,’ she said.”

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