Pennsylvania Jail Accused Of Seizing Inmates’ Toilet Paper | EUROtoday

A Pennsylvania jail retaliated towards inmates suspected of smoking artificial marijuana by punishing total cell blocks — confiscating authorized paperwork, withholding requirements like rest room paper, cleaning soap and heat clothes, and reducing energy and warmth, inmates allege in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday.

Top jail officers waged an escalating, monthlong marketing campaign of collective punishment, imposing “near-total deprivation” and violating the constitutional rights of individuals incarcerated at Dauphin County Prison, a 1,000-person lockup exterior the state capital of Harrisburg, the lawsuit says.

“For DCP to launch this campaign of mass torture is abominable. Their actions violate the Constitution and basic human decency,” stated Margo Hu, employees legal professional for the Abolitionist Law Center, which is representing the plaintiffs. “People in Dauphin County Prison have been advocating against the facility’s depraved conditions for years. It is past time Dauphin County be held responsible for the harm they have been inflicting.”

A message in search of remark was despatched to the Dauphin County Prison Board.

County Commissioner Justin Douglas, who took workplace after the 2023 jail crackdown, stated Tuesday he has been “deeply disturbed” by the allegations since they first surfaced in native media studies a number of months in the past.

“I believe it is essential to let this process play out fully. If any inappropriate actions occurred, it is important that there are appropriate consequences,” he stated.

The abuses described within the lawsuit passed off in November and December 2023 within the jail’s restricted housing unit, the place inmates are sometimes held for breaking jail guidelines and the place jail officers believed artificial medication have been getting used.

The jail responded by confiscating inmates’ pill computer systems, eliminating their entry to spiritual texts, authorized mail and different supplies, and shutting off communications with anybody exterior the jail, the lawsuit says. Jail officers are accused of seizing private hygiene merchandise and locking detainees of their cells practically round the clock, allowing just one 15-minute bathe each three days. Power and warmth have been minimize, and a few inmates sliced open their mattresses to maintain heat as temperatures exterior dipped under freezing, the swimsuit alleges.

Most of the affected folks have been pretrial detainees. When one of many inmates, 27-year-old Kani Little, complained concerning the situations, a dozen guards in riot gear assaulted him, slamming him to the bottom and spraying him with chemical irritant, the lawsuit asserts.

Little and two different plaintiffs are in search of financial damages on behalf of all detainees stored within the restricted housing unit at any time between Nov. 16 and Dec. 19, 2023. Dauphin County, the warden, the chief deputy warden and different jail officers and guards are named as defendants.

Dauphin County has a “widespread and well-earned reputation as a troubled prison facility,” the plaintiffs’ legal professionals wrote within the submitting. More than 20 folks have died in custody on the jail since 2019, the legal professionals stated, and the speed of overdoses is disproportionately excessive.

“I’ve seen so many people die in DCP that I was scared I was next,” one of many plaintiffs, James Patterson, stated in an announcement launched by the Abolitionist Law Center. “I kept talking to staff and no one wanted to listen. They all had their hands in this, none of them protected us, and they all need to go.”