Man sues Allegheny County jail officials over alleged assault by inmate

A man is suing Allegheny County Jail officials after he said he was viciously beaten by another inmate who, just days earlier, had assaulted another man because of the way he looked at him.

Derrick Jubeck, 35, was to be released on May 30, 2019, after being held at the jail on a bond revocation from a 2017 DUI case.

Instead, according to the civil rights lawsuit filed in federal court on Friday, Jubeck alleges that he was beaten unconscious by inmate Mister Mitchell.

At the time, Mitchell, 28, was being held at the jail on various weapons charges out of Penn Hills, court records show.

Jubeck filed the lawsuit against Warden Orlando Harper, Deputy Warden Jason Beasom, Deputy Warden David Zetwo, classification supervisor Hermita Thomas, shift commander David Hungerman, and corrections officers Ian Jackson, Michelle Gildea and Justine Firestine, and others who are unnamed.

An Allegheny County spokesperson declined to comment.

The lawsuit alleges violations of Jubeck’s civil rights and claims that jail officials have the responsibility to ensure people being housed at the jail are appropriately classified and kept safe. According to the lawsuit, Jubeck told jail staff upon admission that he was gay. Throughout the complaint, it refers to Mitchell as a “predator.”

“Lastly, it is the correctional officer’s job to prevent physical attacks on inmates by other inmates known to be predators or to have a prior history of violence against other inmates,” the lawsuit said. “The ACJ management came up with these policies and procedures in order to protect the public and the inmates as well as the correctional staff that work in the jail. These policies are well known in the jail and prison industry and are recognized as policies that must be adhered to in order to protect all persons’ constitutional rights.”

The complaint contends that the Allegheny County Jail did not have a policy in place for the area where inmates are admitted and released from the jail, known as Pod 4A.

Because of that lack of policy, the lawsuit said, Jubeck was attacked.

In that area, the complaint said, there is a sally port entrance, and an area of space between two doors that allows one to be locked before the other is opened.

The lawsuit alleges that there is no policy that prevents multiple inmates from being in that area at the same time.

According to the complaint, Mitchell had assaulted another inmate “in a large open cell located in a transfer area between intake and Pod 4A” a few days before the attack on Jubeck.

“Based on this attack by Mister Mitchell on another inmate, the defendants knew that he was violent and were required to reclassify Mister Mitchell due to this incident,” the lawsuit said.

It quotes another inmate saying that Mitchell attacked the man because “ ‘he looked at me like I was a [gay slur].’ ”

Around 9 a.m. May 30, 2019, according to the complaint, Mitchell was in a sally port of Pod 4A alone, when Jubeck, who was to be released that day, was placed in the same area.

“As Mr. Jubeck walked near, Mister Mitchell wordlessly punched Mr. Jubeck in the face, immediately knocking him unconscious.”

The criminal complaint filed against Mitchell said that the beating continued until officers Jackson and Gildea entered the area to intervene.

“Officer Jackson reported that he observed inmate Mitchell punch inmate Jubeck, lift inmate Jubeck and slam inmate Jubeck’s head on the ground, which appeared to render inmate Jubeck unconscious,” the criminal complaint said.

In an interview with investigators three months later, Jubeck said that Mitchell never said anything before the attack. Jubeck remembered raising his arms to protect himself and then waking up in the back of an ambulance, the complaint said.

The investigator said video surveillance taken from the jail confirmed Jubeck’s account.

Mitchell was charged with aggravated assault and assault by a prisoner and is scheduled to have a status hearing on the case in June.

According to the lawsuit, Jubeck sustained a traumatic brain injury, a skull fracture, multiple rib fractures, a broken back, bleeding on his brain and a dislocated collarbone.

The lawsuit alleges a lack of proper training and supervision and said jail administrators were aware of the risks of harm that could come from two inmates being held in the sally port area alone but did nothing about it.

“The harm to Mr. Jubeck is the direct consequence of those practices, as well as the ACJ’s failure to adequately implement policies and training to ensure the safety of inmates being released from the jail,” the lawsuit said. “Neglecting its clear constitutional obligations as well as the requirements set forth under their own policies and procedures, which include the Prison Rape Elimination Act … the ACJ has failed to prevent foreseeable, ongoing and severe harm to Mr. Jubeck.”

The complaint alleges that Mitchell posed an objective and excessive risk of violence and that the defendants deprived Jubeck, who was classified as minimum security level, of his constitutional rights. It characterizes the defendants’ actions as “intentional, recklessly indifferent, willful, wanton, malicious and outrageous.”