Jail

Allegheny County Jail

COVID-19 INFORMATION

Our Response

The Bureau of Corrections is charged with providing for the care, custody and control of persons committed to the Allegheny County Jail. Confined areas present challenges when it comes to mitigation and elimination of the spread of illness or disease, and COVID-19 is no exception.

At the jail, we continue to follow the guidance of our health officials. People are wearing masks, washing their hands and remaining physically distanced. We’re testing when appropriate. Positive cases are isolated. We perform contact tracing and quarantine those individuals. We have consistent cleaning of the environment. We continue to enforce and reinforce all recommendations and these measures have been upheld by our hardworking, essential employees and dedicated staff. They work continuously to ensure the safe management of this facility and all those who are in it.

The facility continues to offer incarcerated individuals vaccination and booster opportunities. All vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna, and Janssen) are available at the Allegheny County Jail. The Jail remains committed to completing the vaccine series of any individual who comes to incarceration. While vaccines are not mandated for incarcerated individuals, we continue to encourage the community to elect vaccination.  

The health, safety and welfare of incarcerated individuals and our staff remains our biggest priority. We are deeply indebted to, and salute, our healthcare and corrections staff who are working tirelessly to care for those in our custody. We recognize the commitment, dedication and sacrifices that represents, and remain grateful for everything that they do.

Please note that the data below will be updated on a weekly basis, each Friday, beginning August 13, 2021. Information relative to COVID related hospitalizations will be updated on a daily basis. Unless noted otherwise, hospitalizations are for ongoing monitoring of individuals. As a policy, any critical status updates are provided to family members.

Total Lives Lost / Incarcerated Individuals: 1

Total Positive Cases Historically (Unduplicated Count): 952- some rapid tests have required confirmatory testing. Testing data is not up to date, however, the positivity number is accurate.

COVID-19 totals April 1-8: 198 PCR tested, 0 positive, 198 negative, 0 refused 

COVID-19 Rapid Antigen totals March 1-31: 1150 offered test, 4 positive, 1136 negative and 10 refused

*Pursuant to a policy of the PA Department of Corrections, any inmate being transferred to state facilities must have a negative test for COVID-19 before transfer can be made. As a result, those incarcerated individuals awaiting transfer are being tested on an ongoing basis. Additional testing of incarcerated individuals is done in consultation with the Allegheny County Health Department.

Attorney Visits

Effective Wednesday, July 8, 2020, the Allegheny County Jail will allow attorney visits to the facility. More information

Inmate Release

Since March 16, 2020, a collaboration of officials in the Criminal Court, including Judges, Court Administration, Adult Probation, Pretrial Services, the Public Defender’s Office and the District Attorney’s Office, have been continually reviewing cases to determine which incarcerated individuals are appropriate for release. Those cases are then addressed in Motions Court or reviewed with the assigned Judge depending on the circumstances. Incarcerated individual releases are being processed as they are received, following the same process related to discharge and release as is done traditionally. The census count at the jail was 2,205 on March 17, 2020 with current census data and changes noted below and updated daily, Monday through Friday, with the exception of holidays.