Hallam sues Fitzgerald, other county officials for lack of attendance at jail meetings

Allegheny County Councilwoman Bethany Hallam, D-Brighton Heights, has filed a lawsuit against Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and two other elected county officials in an effort to compel them to attend Jail Oversight Board meetings.

Hallam and advocates for better conditions at Allegheny County Jail have long been critical of Fitzgerald’s absence at oversight board meetings.

At a news conference Thursday, Hallam said there have been 20 deaths at the jail since April 2020, which is double the national rate of deaths at jails. She said the county executive, the county treasurer and the county sheriff regularly send proxies to attend meetings in their place. Hallam said those elected officials are not legally allowed to send proxies.

“No longer will we accept Fitzgerald’s persistent attempts to dodge accountability for the deaths that have occurred under his watch,” Hallam said. “Nor will we allow him to continue to send his cronies to the meetings in direct contradiction to the plain language of the enabling statute.”

Jail spokesperson Jesse Geleynse took issue with Hallam’s statistics and said there have been 15 in-custody deaths since April 2020, and only two in 2023. Geleynse also said that the Allegheny County Jail is not in a unique situation and jail deaths across the country have increased.

She said Fitzgerald has the most authority at the jail and is the only person who can remove the jail’s warden, but has shown up only one time to an oversight board meeting.

Fitzgerald spokeswoman Amie Downs declined to comment, other than to say, “We’re not interested in commenting on her latest stunt.”

Hallam didn’t identify Allegheny County Judge Elliot Howsie as the Jail Oversight Board chairman, but did say the person in charge of the board’s meetings has allowed proxy board members to attend.

She said every vote made by proxies is illegal and that proxy members ask “fluff questions” and regularly fail in their oversight duties.

Howsie stopped to watch some of Thursday’s news conference. When asked what he thought about the lawsuit, Howsie said “no comment” and “it’s ridiculous.”

Fitzgerald is term-limited and will leave office at the end of this year. There are five Jail Oversight Board meetings left this year.

When asked why she was bringing this lawsuit now, Hallam said an important vote was decided by a proxy and that vote should be voided. She added that she wants to ensure other elected officials are compelled to follow the law and attend meetings.

“It is about setting a precedent that in Allegheny County we uphold the law and we use the laws in place to help people. To make sure that people stop dying in the jail,” Hallam said.

Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor and Allegheny County Sheriff Kevin Kraus were also named in the lawsuit.

O’Connor said he has attended many Jail Oversight Board meetings since taking office last July, but has sent a proxy the past two meetings because his wife is on maternity leave. He said that when sending a proxy, the representatives abstain in any votes. He also said his two surprise visits to the jail and a jail audit he has conducted demonstrate his commitment to jail oversight.

“I take my job very seriously on the jail oversight board,” he said. “We are not taking it lightly.”

Mike Manko, spokesman for Kraus, said that neither Kraus nor the sheriff’s office has been served with any legal paperwork at this point.

Brad Korinski, the attorney who filed the suit on behalf of Hallam, said the law is clear and he is confident Hallam will prevail in court.

He doesn’t expect Fitzgerald to start attending in response to the lawsuit, noting that he once offered to donate $10,000 to the charity of Fitzgerald’s choice if he attended.

When Korinski was working for then-County Controller Chelsa Wagner, he attended meetings as a proxy for Wagner.