PITTSBURGH — A week after 11 Investigates broke the story about two Allegheny County jail guards suspended after an inmate walked out of a hospital room, another guard is under investigation for allegedly sleeping while on duty at the same hospital.
On Monday, Chief Investigator Rick Earle obtained a picture of a jail guard sources say was sound asleep at West Penn Hospital in Bloomfield while he was guarding an inmate in a hospital bed next to him without handcuffs or leg shackles.
On Tuesday, Earle spoke with Bethany Hallam, a member of Allegheny County Council and the Allegheny County Jail Oversight Board.
“I’m shocked, disappointed, disgusted. It is definitely a threat to public safety, Hallam told Earle.
Hallam did acknowledge in some cases guards are working more than 16 hours a day, watching inmates on hospital runs.
This comes after two other guards were suspended last week after an inmate with one leg, and handcuffed to a crutch, briefly escaped while at the same hospital.
The inmate was found by hospital staff wandering the hallways.
While not offering an excuse in this latest incident, the president of the jail guard union, Brian Englert, says the guard’s wife recently had a baby.
“So he’s been pulling double duty between work and doing diapers, as his wife is a nurse that works 12-hour shifts herself. I don’t condone that at all, but like I said, sometimes the conditions when you are working 18 hours a day back to back takes a toll on you,” said Englert
The jail guard union says for nearly two years now, they’ve lobbied the jail administration to create a team dedicated to hospital runs, but that hasn’t happened.
In fact, in a safety report to the administration in June, the union raised concerns that officers are being relieved late from hospitals and being sent on hospital runs with no means of communication.
Englert said Hallam and County Executive Sara Innamorato have never met with them to discuss the safety issues and concerns.
Hallam would ultimately like to see the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Department take over hospital watches.
“We have talked about the Sheriff taking over hospital runs, which to me is the best solution to this problem, but the Sheriff has been less than cooperative on that issue,” said Hallam.
Allegheny County Sheriff Kevin Kraus told Earle that’s not accurate.
He said he’s open to discussions.
Right now, sheriff’s deputies transport jail guards and inmates to and from the hospital, but sheriff’s deputies are only called in to guard inmates after an inmate is admitted to a hospital.
Deputies are supposed to relieve jail guards after eight hours, but Englert says sometimes that does not happen.
Englert says oftentimes jail guards are left working 16-21 hour shifts while guarding inmates at hospitals.
But Hallam says the bottom line in this case is simple.
“We have a zero tolerance policy for sleeping at work. I don’t know a single person that I’ve ever met in my life who is allowed to sleep while they are working, especially considering these folks are being paid for with taxpayer dollars,” said Hallam.
A spokesman for the Allegheny County Jail would only say the incident involving the sleeping guard is under investigation.
No word yet if that guard has been suspended.
The investigation into the guards suspended last week is also continuing.
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