A Squirrel Hill woman has filed a suit against the Allegheny County Jail Oversight Board, alleging it routinely violates the public’s rights to government transparency under the Sunshine Act.
In her Court of Common Pleas complaint, Rachel Radke accuses the board of consistently limiting public access to information about jail conditions and refusing to read written public comments or allow the public to ask questions during meetings.
“This board is the one method we, the public, have of having any kind of input or effect on what happens inside that jail,” Radke tells Pittsburgh City Paper during a phone interview. “They have to be accountable to the public, that’s why they’re there, and the only tool we have to do that is the Sunshine Act.”
Radke tells City Paper that the impetus for her suit was the board’s decision last month to hire a liaison to the jail without notifying the public that they would be making that decision or allowing for public comment on it. This action, she and others allege, violates the Sunshine Act, which requires public notice and comment before any official action.
Radke calls this “the most obvious and egregious” Sunshine Act violation, but her complaint alleges additional violations. Radke’s complaint alleges that the oversight board routinely misuses closed meetings, or executive sessions, to discuss any “matters the jail would like to keep private,” including topics beyond the scope of what is allowed by law.
The Sunshine Act states that executive session — where the board convenes outside of public view — may only be used to discuss specified list of issues, including personnel matters and contract negotioations, real estate purchases, litigation, confidential agency business, and certain public safety issues where public disclosures could bring further harm.
“The Sunshine Act is real clear. Like, you could only use executive session to talk about [certain] things,” Radke says, noting that Warden Orlando Harper often refuses to discuss any topic he deems unflattering to the jail in public, including overdoses and deaths at the facility, allegations of staff misconduct, scheduling procedures, and jail policies related to access to medical care. According to Radke, Judge Elliot Howsie, the board’s de facto president, opts only discuss them in executive session.
Brad Korinski, a clerk for Common Pleas Judge Chelsa Wagner who previously served as counsel for the county controller’s office, agrees with Radke’s view that the Jail Oversight Board’s use of executive session likely violates the law.
“Their actions, at every opportunity, are to obfuscate and put behind closed doors what should be in the light of day,” Korinski tells City Paper, “and without any legal guidance or any [demonstrated] desire to follow the law, I don’t think anyone should have any confidence that they are using executive session properly.”
Radke’s complaint also calls attention to Howsie’s handling of public comments. The oversight board’s webpage states all comments submitted electronically will be read in their entirety as long as they are under five minutes. Radke alleges in the complaint that written public comments have not been read in several months and that Howsie regularly claims not to have received any comments, even when members of the public say they submitted them.
Regarding spoken comments, Radke’s complaint notes that Jail Oversight Board meeting minutes show that Howsie regularly instructs members of the public not to ask questions of the board or jail officials. Although it allows that officials are not obligated to respond, the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records unequivocally states that members of the public are allowed to ask questions during public comment periods. Radke’s complaint alleges Howsie’s treatment of public comments amounts to a First Amendment violation.
In addition to naming the Jail Oversight Board as a whole, the complaint also specifically names board members Elliot Howsie and Beth Lazzara in their capacities as Common Pleas judges.
“I just can’t imagine putting yourself in a position to be a judge or taking these oaths that you’re going to uphold justice and things like that and then behaving that way… They’re just coming into that meeting every month and acting in bad faith and doing it with pride,” Radke says.
She also criticizes Lazzara for routinely leaving board meetings early.
“I rearrange my whole day on Jail Oversight Board meeting [days] to make it happen,” Radke says. “I’m a widow. I’m a single mom, I have three boys. And I’m like driving them all over town, trying to get everybody where they need to go, trying to get to the board meeting. And then you have [Lazzara] mosey on over to the boardroom from her office and then leave early.”
Radke is a former math teacher and advocate for increased access to medication for opioid use disorder at the county jail. She tells City Paper that her husband died of an overdose seven months after being released from Allegheny County Jail, noting recent public health research that shows individuals recently released from jail or prison are at significantly higher risk of fatal overdose than the general population for at least a year following their release if they are not prescribed MOUD.
Radke is not currently represented by counsel and is open to offers of pro bono legal assistance. She tells City Paper the only guidance she received in preparing the complaint was from ChatGPT.
Korinski, an attorney, tells City Paper that the Sunshine Act is intended to be understood and enforced by private citizens.
“It is rather formulaic, in that if you are going to take an action, the action needs to be on an agenda. If you’re going to take an action, you need to do it after the public’s had an opportunity to comment on it. You know, this isn’t stuff that you would have to research regulations or cite precedential cases,” Korinski says.
Radke’s complaint asks the court to issue an injunction ordering the oversight board to comply with the Sunshine Act.
Both Elliot Howsie and Beth Lazzara declined comment.
At least one member of the Jail Oversight Board, however, welcomes Radke’s suit.
“I’ve been begging someone to sue the Jail Oversight Board for their blatant disregard for the law and their statutory duties since even before I joined the board,” board member Bethany Hallam, who frequently objects to board practices she feels violate the Sunshine Act, tells City Paper in a written statement. “I have a ton of respect for Rachel and the work she does in our community and will cooperate with her efforts in any and every way I can.”
Detox Deaths
This month, two individuals who had been incarcerated at the Allegheny County Jail died after detoxing in the jail’s intake unit. one while he was in the jail’s custody and the other shortly after being released from the jail and committed to the hospital.
James Washington, 42, died on Mon., May 8, shortly after being released to the hospital from the jail’s custody. Jail officials said in a press release that Washington had been booked into the jail on May 5 and was put on a “detox protocol” after testing positive for several substances. Officials said he was found unresponsive in the intake unit on Sunday morning and was released to the hospital, where he died the next day.
Another man, who has not been identified publicly but who was 60 years old and was incarcerated on retail theft charges, died on Thu., May 25 after being found unresponsive in the jail’s intake unit, according to a press release from jail officials. He had also been placed on a detox protocol in the days prior to his death.
At least 19 people have died in the Allegheny County Jail or shortly after their release from jail since 2020. Allegheny County Jail has a death rate twice the national average for jails of its size.
In case you missed it: May Jail Oversight Board Meeting
In addition to the much-discussed and potentially illegal vote to hire a candidate for the jail liaison position, public comments at May’s oversight board meeting also included statements from several defense attorneys who attended the meeting to protest what they described as diminishing access to their clients incarcerated in the jail as well as their clients’ inadequate medical care.
Andy Howard, senior deputy of trial advocacy in the public defender’s office, complained that attorneys have recently been barred from visiting their clients “during two critical business hours, 10:30-11:30 am and 2:30-3:30pm,” while the jail counts the individuals in their custody.
Howard said he was told by Warden Orlando Harper during a recent meeting that attorney visits had never taken place during those hours.
“I’ve never felt so blatantly gaslit,” Howard said on Thursday. “I have personally visited many, many clients during count for years. … Something changed this year and we need it to change back.”
Howard said that attorneys’ diminished access to their clients has produced a variety of negative outcomes.
“The Sixth Amendment is being squeezed to death,” Howard said. “The result of the warden’s weaponized policy making and enforcement is that our clients’ cases suffer, their rights are weakened, court appearances need to be postponed, sheriffs have to do additional transports, judges aren’t clearing cases, tax dollars are being wasted, and court fees are piling up, and it cannot continue.”
Art Ettinger, a public defender in the major felony unit, echoed these concerns, saying that public defenders are no longer allowed to give their clients paperwork during legal visits. He said the warden recently disallowed this long-time practice citing a need to prevent contraband.
Prior to departing the meeting, Lazzara confirmed that she’s recently seen a significant uptick in attorneys reporting they’ve been unable to meet with their clients at the jail and also relayed other attorneys’ complaints that incarcerated people are not getting access to the technology necessary for them to review electronic evidence in their cases.
Warden Harper told the board he was willing to meet with the public defenders again “to try to resolve some of the issues.”
Private defense attorney Joe Otte also addressed the board, echoing some of the recurring allegations of medical neglect at the jail.
Otte recalled a particular situation in early 2021 in which he said he had to track down the jail’s head doctor’s personal cell phone number in order to get medical attention for an elderly client with COPD and COVID-19.
“So, when the jail responds to the latest death in the Allegheny County Jail and they tell you they did everything they could, they’re probably goddamn lying to you,” Otte said.
Who was in jail this month?
Average population of jail and alternative housing in May 2023: 1,632 individuals.
Gender: Most people in the jail are men. Women make up about 11% of the jail population. It’s unclear how many trans, nonbinary, and/or gender nonconforming people there are in the jail.
Race: 67% of people incarcerated at the jail this month were Black. Allegheny County as a whole is 13% Black.
Children: Twenty-two individuals under 18 are currently held in the jail, making up approximately 2% of its average daily population.
Senior citizens: One hundred eighty-two individuals over the age of 65 are currently held in the jail, making up 11% of its average daily population.
Source: Allegheny County Analytics
This article appears in May 24-30, 2023.
