By Matthew Santoni

Law360 (May 27, 2020, 4:32 PM EDT) -- The Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh will increase COVID-19 testing and precautions intended to prevent the spread of the virus after a federal judge approved a deal between the jail, prisoner-rights groups and the ACLU of Pennsylvania on Wednesday.

The consent order and an attached operating plan said the jail would give new inmates medical screenings, with anyone exhibiting symptoms or testing positive for the coronavirus being placed in isolated cells, as will anyone who is medically vulnerable. Those who are quarantined will get separate recreation and hygiene times, and the jail will increase its distribution of protective masks and its cleaning of common areas and surfaces, the operating plan said.

"After numerous discussions, the parties have reached an agreement on the policies and reasonable accommodations that the Allegheny County Jail will follow to protect people from COVID-19," said the motion, filed Tuesday and approved Wednesday. "The defendants have agreed to clarify and/or supplement existing policies informed by guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Allegheny County Health Department in an effort to protect the plaintiffs and reduce the spread of COVID-19 within the ACJ."

With U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon's approval Wednesday, the consent order settled the emergency injunction sought in a proposed class action filed in April on behalf of inmates at the jail. Their suit claimed the facility was failing to follow guidelines for preventing the spread of the highly contagious COVID-19 virus by continuing to have inmates share cells and common areas.

The jail had released hundreds of inmates in the early weeks of the pandemic in order to reduce its population, but instead of spreading the remaining prisoners out, the jail had closed the now empty areas and continued to house many inmates two to a cell, the suit said.

The jail's website showed that, as of Tuesday, 28 inmates and six staff members had tested positive for COVID-19, though all the positive inmates and one of the staff had been released or recovered from the disease.

Under the proposal, the jail would follow its updated COVID-19 operating plans, and would be required to send weekly reports to the plaintiffs' attorneys, including the number of inmates in each housing unit, how many were seen by medical providers, and how many had tested positive, were suspected of having the disease, or had had close contact with confirmed cases.

Prisoners' complaints about COVID-19 precautions and any alleged violations would also be included in the reports, and the jail would have seven days to respond to any alleged violations of the consent order.

Under the operating plan included in the proposal, employees and contractors coming into the jail have their temperatures checked and will have to answer a minimum of three questions about their recent travel, contact with anyone displaying symptoms of COVID-19, and any symptoms they may be displaying. If they have elevated temperatures, the employees or contractors will get a second reading and additional questions; those who answer "yes" to the questions or for whom fever is confirmed will be sent home until they are cleared by a health care provider.

Similarly, any new inmates who display symptoms or have been confirmed as having the virus will be quarantined for as long as deemed necessary, and as long as space allows, the plan said.

"Individuals who respond that they have been confirmed as a positive case of COVID-19 will be placed in a holding cell under isolation procedures and will be maintained on that status throughout the typical intake processes. This information will be vetted by the Allegheny County Health Department to establish a date of diagnosis and to determine the number of days required for isolation and quarantine," the operating plan said.

Intake holding cells will get additional soap dispensers to encourage frequent hand washing, new inmates will be moved less frequently, and they won't have recreation in large groups. They will be subjected to additional temperature checks and will be required to wear masks for at least their first two weeks at the facility, the jail's plan said.

"All new admission housing units will be expected to strictly enforce social distancing practices and the adherence of donned masks during all times outside of their cells," the plan said. "If a new admission is unwilling to comply with those expectations, for the safety of the institution, they will face disciplinary action and restricted time out of their cell."

Quarantined inmates will also have to wear masks and will get separate times for recreation and using shower facilities, and meals will be delivered to their cells on disposable trays. The common areas will be disinfected between uses, the plan said.

"We are pleased that Allegheny County has taken these important steps to protect people at the jail," said Sara Rose, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Pennsylvania, in a statement. "We hope that these measures will prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the jail while also treating people humanely."

A representative for Allegheny County declined to comment. 

The prisoners are represented by Alexandra Morgan-Kurtz of the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project; Bret D. Grote, Quinn Cozzens, Jaclyn Kurin, Jules Lobel and Swain Uber of the Abolitionist Law Center, Sara J. Rose, Witold J. Walczak and David C. Fathi of the American Civil Liberties Union; and Sozi Pedro Tulante, Will W. Sachse, Cory A. Ward, Ryan M. Moore and Rachel Rosenberg of Dechert LLP.

Allegheny County and Warden Harper are represented by John A. Bacharach, Andrew F. Szefi and Dennis R. Biondo Jr. of the Allegheny County Law Department.

The case is Graham et al. v. Allegheny County et al., case number 2:20-cv-00496, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

--Editing by Peter Rozovsky.

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