By Charlie Deitch

Pittsburgh Current Editor

Charlie@pittsburghcurrent.com

There has been a lot of concern by advocates and elected officials over the health and safety of incarcerated persons at the Allegheny County Jail during the COVID-19 outbreak.

But imagine what it’s like being inside the jail.

“He sees it spreading and he doesn’t feel safe,” says Laura Perkins, the emergency response organizer at Casa San Jose, an advocacy and service group for Pittsburgh’s Latino Community. The “he” she’s referring to is a pre-trial inmate being held without bond. He was set to go on trial earlier this month but his case was delayed by the COVID-19 outbreak. Perkins spoke to the inmate earlier today (April 16). He called her to try and get the word out about conditions at the jail.

The inmate is currently housed in Unit 3B, which sources have said is where the first infected inmates were housed. So far, one employee and four inmates have officially tested positive. However, sources tell the Current that a second employee, a corrections officer, has tested positive.

The inmate’s cellmate was quarantined recently, suspected of having the virus, but has since returned. He told Perkins that to protest conditions that he and several other inmates went on a two-day hunger strike, refusing the meals they now have to eat in their cells. Because of the virus, commissary privileges have also been suspended, leaving inmates unable to buy supplemental food.

“He told me that 60 inmates from his wing wrote and signed a letter and sent it to the media because of the conditions,” Perkins says. The Current did independently verify that some inmates on Unit B had refused food earlier this week.

“They are all very scared,” says the inmate’s wife who was asked not to be identified. “There have been a lot of sick inmates on the level he is in.

“This has been an open case for a long time and they have just left him sitting in there waiting and no one cares.”

The inmate’s wife says because of the circumstances of the case and defense evidence, that her husband will be cleared of the charges. At this point, however, it’s unclear when he will get his trial. Until then, apparently, he will sit in the county jail as a virus spreads throughout the facility, not convicted of a single charge.

“There is a lot of bullshit going on here,” she says. “The system does not care about [Latino] people. It shouldn’t take this long to get a case cleared one way or another. At this point, he says he’d rather be deported back to Peru then sit there and wait to get sick.”

The inmate’s wife said her husband has been going through the process to get a green card and was starting to get to the end of the process. His incarceration has been a hardship, she says. Her family lost their house and she and her children have been staying in a small bedroom at a friend’s house. And now, she says, she’s not only worrying about when his case will move forward she is also hoping he doesn’t get sick.

“It doesn’t make sense to have these people who haven’t been convicted to be sitting in jail while this virus spreads,” she says. “This situation has gotten out of hand.”