We are working to put binding ballot questions on the May 2021 ballot.
This will take 27,000 valid signatures, collected between December 29 and February 16. With the cost of mailing petitions and purchasing PPE under COVID, costs have risen significantly.
We need everyone’s help to make this happen!
Stop Solitary Confinement
As detailed in the lawsuit filed by advocates against the Allegheny County Jail in October 2020, people inside the ACJ are routinely subjected to long stretches in solitary confinement as, essentially, punishment for having a mental illness. One chilling example:
“Plaintiff…is currently incarcerated at ACJ and has been since February 2015. He suffers from psychiatric disabilities, including bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Mr. Byrd has been repeatedly issued misconducts and kept in solitary confinement for seeking mental health or medical care, and he has been repeatedly assaulted with a taser, sprayed with OC spray, and placed in the restraint chair. He has been placed in the restraint chair approximately 20 times or more, including one instance of being strapped to the chair for 28 hours. These conditions have caused his mental health to deteriorate, and led to a series of selfharm attempts.”
Our ballot initiative will virtually end this barbaric practice, currently deployed by jail authorities in lieu of providing actual mental healthcare.
Thank you — and please share!
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