Letter to the editor: Allegheny County Jail has a staffing crisis

The Allegheny County Jail has 88 vacancies for medical and mental health staff. In 2019 the number was 37. Why have so many people left employment at ACJ?

Are their licenses threatened by doing work they should not be doing? Is there too much forced overtime affecting their family life? Are they finding employment at other workplaces that is less stressful? With the staffing crisis affecting correctional officers, do nurses feel safe in their work providing services to residents?

Two critical questions need to be answered. Why do nurses and mental health providers continue to work at ACJ, and can these staff members tell us why their peers have left employment at the jail? Peers do talk with each other, and the knowledge that current staff have regarding the staffing crisis needs to be communicated to the Jail Oversight Board.

Anonymous job satisfaction surveys, board members developing an individual verbal relationship over time with different jail staff, and the board responding with empathy and some practical ideas to the plight of the staff are ways the board can unlock the knowledge jail employees have regarding the staffing crisis. The board needs to create a subcommittee to do the work that needs to get done.

The major risk of people dying at ACJ needs to be stopped. Seventeen people have died being incarcerated at the jail since April 2020.

John Kenstowicz

Morningside