When Allegheny County voters approved a referendum in 2021 eliminating the use of solitary confinement at the county jail, they also barred use of leg shackles by corrections officers there.

As a result, jail staff cannot restrain the legs of incarcerated people being transported to the hospital for medical appointments or emergencies.

That has led to 14 attempted escapes in the last 16 months, according to the president of the union representing corrections officers.

The worst incident, said president Brian Englert, occurred in June when a man convicted of third-degree murder tried to run and was tackled in the emergency room by the two officers escorting him.

Although he was taken back into custody without further incident, Englert said that corrections officers and the public are at risk any time an incarcerated person is taken out of the jail and brought to a medical setting.

On Tuesday evening, Englert presented a petition with 1,044 signatures from voters across the county to County Council seeking to have that small portion of the referendum overturned.

All the union is asking for, Englert said, is to allow the use of leg shackles during transport for medical appointments.

“It’s purely in the interest of public safety,” he told TribLive Monday.

But the union’s efforts might be moot.

Last month, the Allegheny County Jail Oversight Board voted to recommend that the county study the feasibility of turning over the responsibility of hospital transports to the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office.

For months, board members had contemplated ways to help ease the staffing shortage at the jail.

Switching hospital transports to the sheriff’s office could do that — and since the sheriffs are already the ones driving the vans, the board said, it eliminates redundancy.

According to Allegheny County Common Pleas President Judge Susan Evashavik DiLucente, the average medical transport assignment takes 10 hours, and two corrections officers are sent on each one.

Englert said the jail averages seven medical runs each day.

If the job were turned over to the sheriff’s office, deputies would be permitted to use leg shackles since they were not subject to the referendum.

That, Judge Evashavik DiLucente said at the July meeting, would help increase public safety.

If the study shows the move would be beneficial, the board asked that the switch be made as soon as possible.

However, Englert said he believes it will be more costly to move the service to the sheriff’s office because deputies’ pay rates are higher.

He hopes that County Council will accept the petitions and then propose a motion to modify the referendum and take an up-or-down vote.

Englert said that the jail’s 370 officers plan to go door-to-door in the county over the next several weeks to urge constituents to lobby their council members.

Under Allegheny County’s Home Rule Charter, two years after a referendum is implemented, council is permitted to consider the matter.

Allegheny County Councilman Dan Grzybek, D-Bethel Park, said he is undecided on the question.

“I understand the thought process. You can have a good faith argument on both sides,” he said. “I’m also very (reluctant) to vote against something Allegheny County voters specifically voted for.”

Grzybek said he has talked to many constituents about the matter. Often, he said, they didn’t realize that the referendum banned leg shackles, because the language focused on solitary confinement.

“The clear understanding and belief throughout Allegheny County was that what was happening at (the county jail) and the human rights abuses were deeply wrong,” Grzybek said.

Because it was corrections officers who were believed to be committing abuses, moving the transport to the sheriff’s office might make sense, Grzybek said.

“It’s a really nuanced conversation.”

Tanisha Long, of the Abolitionist Law Center, which worked to pass the referendum, said moving hospital transports to the sheriff’s office makes sense.

For years, she said, the jail’s corrections officers have complained they don’t have the appropriate tools to do their jobs, that the jail is understaffed, and that they are not properly trained.

“The sheriffs are not expressing those same concerns,” Long said. “You should put these runs in the hands of the people most qualified to do them.”

Jail administration on Monday said it does not have a position on the issue and will follow the law as approved by the voters of Allegheny County.

Sheriff Kevin Kraus, a member of the oversight board, said he supports the use of leg shackles for medical visits.

“I think it’s absolutely necessary to use shackles in those types of situations, especially in the case of a medical visit to protect not only the law enforcement officer, but also the public and medical staff, and, importantly, the individual themselves,” Kraus said.

He said he would not take a position on the issue of whether his office should take over transports.

“We are in such a preliminary phase of this idea that it would not be appropriate to comment right now, especially with the feasibility of this — both financially and practically — yet to be determined,” Kraus said.

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