Councilwoman urges Allegheny County Jail to end new inmate strip search policy

Allegheny County Councilwoman Anita Prizio is urging county officials to end a new policy that requires inmates to be strip searched after meeting with legal representatives or therapists.

Jail officials recently started the strip searches to try to prevent drug-soaked paper from entering the jail, Prizio said in a statement Wednesday.

A spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In January, an airborne substance sickened 15 Allegheny County Jail employees who were searching an inmate's cell. Warden Orlando Harper said at the time that an informant told jail officials that inmates had smuggled in pieces of paper soaked in an unidentified illicit substance. Once dry, inmates smoked the paper to get high.

“This recent policy change isn't just an abhorrent violation of the rights of Allegheny County residents, it's also a sloppy, lazy and inefficient scheme that lacks any semblance of good judgment, wisdom, insight or prudence,” Prizio said.

Instead of strip searches, Prizio said, the jail should provide a jail-monitored photocopier and printer for the transfer of documents into and out of the jail.

Some of the inmates meeting with therapists are sexual assault survivors who should not be “subjected to the loss of dignity and additional trauma that strip searches can induce,” she said.

While campaigning for a seat on council , Prizio, D-O'Hara, said forming an investigative task force to examine the Allegheny County Jail was one of her priorities.

Prizio was elected in November and took office in January.

Theresa Clift is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach her at 412-380-5669, tclift@tribweb.com or via Twitter @tclift.