Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato has proposed three new members to the county’s Jail Oversight Board, which has arguably become the most contentious public body in local government. And one of her choices said he hopes his first-hand knowledge of the facility will help turn it around.
Innamorato has proposed attorneys Barbara Griffin and Rob Perkins to the nine-member board, along with activist, Muhammad Ali Nasir, who goes by his emcee name, MAN-E.
The board is responsible for managing the Allegheny County Jail and is meant to ensure proper discipline and safekeeping of people incarcerated there. But it has been plagued by a series of deaths and a slew of complaints about prisoner treatment and short-staffing. And at her first oversight board meeting in January, Innamorato expressed interest in selecting new members for the nine-seat board with lived knowledge of the jail and its issues.
MAN-E carries that qualification, having been incarcerated at the facility at the age of 16 for an offense later moved to juvenile court. He said that although he was ultimately acquitted of the charge, his time in jail led him to advocacy, an experience he described in a first-person essay for Public Source last year.
“It had a very deep impact on me,” MAN-E told WESA last week. “And that's really what drives me to do the work that I do now. Because I still remember the smells and the sights and the taste of the food. I still remember how the guards treated me, and how I know they’re treating folks who are still there.”
MAN-E, who today is an activist and advocacy and policy civic engagement coordinator at 1Hood Media, has been attending JOB meetings for the past year. He will not be the only person on the board to have seen the jail from the inside: County Councilor Bethany Hallam, who has been critical of jail management as council’s representative, was previously housed there on drug-related offenses.
MAN-E also helped found Community Care Resistance in Pittsburgh, which staffs a table outside of the jail each week to provide money, cigarettes, rides home, and other necessities to people who have been released from the facility.
“We try to be as supportive as we can and remind folks that even though they are going through it, even though they are in jail, they still have a community that cares about them,” he said.
Griffin and Perkins, who both serve as members of Innamorato’s transition team, also have familiarity with the plight of those incarcerated. Griffin is an attorney and director of the Allegheny County Bar Foundation’s Pro Bono Center, and Perkins previously served in the Allegheny County Public Defender’s Office.
The position carries a three-year term, and candidates cannot be employed by the county or state government.
All of the candidate nominations will be introduced at the County Council meeting on Jan. 23. Council must approve the candidates before they officially join the boards. If confirmed, the nominees will replace the outgoing citizen members Abass Kamara, Gayle Moss, and Terri Klein. The new members will join a board that has already seen turnover: This month Common Pleas Court Judges Kelly Bigley and Susan Evashavik DiLucente took a pair of seats designated for the judiciary, and Innamorato herself is now filling the seat reserved for the county executive.
Prior to those changes, the oversight board was long the site of contentious debate about conditions at the jail and its management by former warden Orlando Harper. The board itself has faced scrutiny in recent years, thanks to bitter disputes about jail conditions and the board’s power to address them.
As a frequent JOB meeting attendee, MAN-E said he’s seen an “overall lack of concern, enthusiasm and action and movement” from most members, though he praised Hallam.
MAN-E said he hopes to be part of a change in tone and approach. “I want to see the culture of the jail itself shift. It's very adversarial,” he said, adding that he’ll push for an end to weekend-long lockdowns and solitary confinement.
"I’m pleased to put forward this slate of individuals that bring fresh perspectives to the vital work of our county,” Innamorato said in a press release. She noted that on the campaign trail she “committed to bringing new community voices to the Jail Oversight Board, including someone who was previously incarcerated.”
Innamorato also named new members to two other boards on Friday. She nominated State Rep. Mandy Steele and re-nominated Mark Foerster to the Allegheny County Housing Authority Board. She also nominated Kyle Chintalapalli to the Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County. Chintalapalli is the Chief Economic Development Officer of the City of Pittsburgh Office of Management and Budget and serves as the Chair of the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh.
