A new report on probation in Allegheny County finds it to be a key driver of incarceration, significant racial disparities among those sentenced, and large costs imposed by court-ordered fines and restitution.
Analyzing data from publicly available dockets in the county court system, Court Watch, a project of the Pittsburgh-based public interest law firm the Abolitionist Law Center (ALC), reported that the county’s Black residents, especially Black men, are “vastly” overrepresented among those sentenced to probation. Black men make up approximately 6.5% of county residents versus 42% of the supervised probation population. Compared to white defendants, Black defendants are also more likely to receive longer probation sentences, have probation revoked, and to be sentenced to incarceration rather than probation alone.
The report also shed light on the high cost of court fees, fines, and restitution — a court-ordered repayment to the victim of a crime. Individuals on probation in Allegheny County are ordered to pay an average of nearly $15,000 in restitution, though among the most commonly owed parties are corporations including Walmart, Giant Eagle, and Rite Aid — which carry insurance to cover retail theft losses — and tax-exempt nonprofits like Duquesne University and UPMC. ALC found that most fines and restitution are unpaid, something that can constitute a probation violation in Allegheny County.
Dolly Prabhu, author of the report and a staff attorney at ALC, tells Pittsburgh City Paper that the findings about restitution were astonishing since “corporations are already insured.
“So it’s really nonsensical,” Prabhu says. “It’s only draining resources from communities, keeping them destabilized, and making the system much worse.”
One goal of the report, Prabhu notes, is public education, as probation — a court-ordered period of supervised release for defendants, subject to various conditions — is often thought of as an alternative to incarceration. (Probation can be imposed in lieu of or in addition to a prison sentence.)
In contrast, ALC found that the county’s use of probation detainers is its largest driver of incarceration. Probation detainers, also court-ordered by judges, prohibit an individual’s release from jail until a hearing can be held to determine if they have violated the terms of their probation. Individuals being held on probation detainers account for more than a third of the Allegheny County Jail population (40% as of May 19 per the report), comprising a “far greater” proportion than those being held on cash bail.
In October last year, ALC, along with Washington D.C. nonprofit Civil Rights Corps, filed a class action lawsuit against three Allegheny County judges for their “systemic use” of probation detainers, according to a joint press release. Gerald Thomas, 26, who died after collapsing inside Allegheny County Jail on March 6, 2022, was on a probation detainer set by Allegheny Court of Common Pleas Judge Anthony Mariani, named in the lawsuit.
Prabhu and the report emphasize that individuals can be detained on probation for a host of technical violations, including testing positive for drugs, staying out beyond a set curfew, or non-participation in court-ordered mental health or substance abuse programs — which carry costs to attend — and then given scant opportunity to file motions to lift the detainer or otherwise challenge it.
“That’s why probation is causing this very, very long-term pretrial incarceration,” Prabhu says. “And that’s what leads to a lot of the more serious issues we see in our jail and in other detention facilities is people with mental or physical health issues, or both, being subject to really long-term incarceration.”
Prabhu says that while it’s encouraging to see “energy” from the public directed toward abolishing cash bail and ending pretrial incarceration, she hopes to see the same movement toward probation, a “far bigger” driver. The report concludes by calling for the abolition of probation detainers for individuals deemed bailable and those accused of technical violations, abolishing "split sentences," which order incarceration followed by probation, and eliminating fines, fees, and restitution payments.
