Some of the correctional officers at the Allegheny County Jail work 16-hour double shifts for four to five days in a row. Here is what two officers said about this tortuous work schedule in a 2025 correctional officer survey:

“I can’t speak with my family for 16 hours a day, I get home and they are asleep, so I don’t see my kids till my day off, but I am so exhausted mentally and physically that I can’t enjoy the time I have with them”

“Not being able to contact my family. It would be nice to contact our loved ones or video call them. If inmates can call loved ones with a tablet, why can’t the officers do the same on their breaks?”

Another officer asked for gym equipment: “Better gym equipment, we spend our lives here, make it more at home for us”

After these statements were presented to the warden and the Jail Oversight Board, a few weeks later, Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas Judge Susan Evashavik DiLucente and the warden announced the instituting of a center for officers to contact their families, and a fitness center.

Because some officers spoke out, officers will be getting something in their Christmas stocking this year.

The family contact center and the fitness center will go far in decreasing officers’ stress, improving morale and decreasing staff turnover.

Let’s bring our frontline officers to the table to speak at our Jail Oversight Board meetings.

John Kenstowicz

Morningside

The writer is an advocate working to improve living and working conditions at the Allegheny County Jail.

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