Allegheny County Council rejects restoring some leg shackle use at county jail

Allegheny County Council struck down a measure Wednesday night to partly reverse the ban on restraining prisoners with leg shackles.

The ordinance, sent to council by Allegheny County Jail corrections officers through a citizens’ initiative process, would have allowed the use of leg shackles when incarcerated people leave the facility for medical care.

It was rejected 12-2, with Councilmen Jack Betkowski, D-Ross, and DeWitt Walton, D-Hill District, as the only “yes” votes. Councilwoman Michelle Naccarati-Chapkis, D-Plum, was absent.

“We have an obligation legally and morally to make sure that someone gets the appropriate health care they need,” Walton said. “We also have an obligation to the public at large that they are safe.”

Leg shackles were banned through a landslide ballot referendum in 2021 that also prohibited the use of solitary confinement, barred restraint chairs and pepper spray.

The ban was prompted by persistent claims of abuse by officers at the jail against people incarcerated there.

Brian Englert, president of the corrections officer union, has argued the shackles are necessary. He claims eliminating leg restraints led to 14 escape attempts between May 2024 and September 2025.

But according to Pennsylvania Department of Corrections statistics cited by Councilwoman Bethany Hallam, D-Brighton Heights, the Allegheny County Jail has not seen as escape attempt since the leg shackles ban went into effect.

“This is simply a solution in search of a problem,” she said at the meeting.

Some council members who voted against the measure were more opposed to the language of the citizen-drafted ordinance than the idea of bringing back leg shackles in medical settings.

Mike Embrescia, a councilman at large, said a “better bill needs to come forth.”

His point could be moot after an agreement was reached in October to allow police officers on hospitals’ security staffs to apply leg shackles under the supervision of corrections officers.

County Executive Sara Innamorato previously vowed to veto Wednesday’s measure because it was “redundant” with the agreement.