Allegheny County Council rejects proposal to reinstate leg shackles for hospital transports

Allegheny County Council voted 12–2 to reject Ordinance 13669-25, a citizen-sponsored measure that would have amended County Code §205 to allow leg shackles during hospital transports. The vote came after more than an hour of public comment and roughly an hour of council debate.

Supporters of the change, including corrections officers and the union president, said the proposal was needed to protect hospital staff and jail employees during unpredictable medical transports. "You know what else causes a lot of overtime? Officer injuries, especially on hospital runs," Brian Englert, president of the correctional officers union, told council members, arguing that escapes and assaults during medical transports have driven overtime and injuries.

Opponents, including multiple residents and advocacy organizations, urged council to uphold the 2021 referendum that banned shackles and other restraints in the jail. "The voters made it clear when 70% of us voted to stop the use of shackles, pepper spray, restraint chairs, and solitary confinement," Sharon Bonavolia of the Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network said during public comment. Diana Hall, another speaker opposed to reinstating shackles, called the rollback "a challenge to the democratic process itself."

Councilmember debate touched on public-safety obligations, hospital authority to apply medical restraints, legal exposure and settlements prior to the 2021 referendum, and recordkeeping. Councilmember Bukowski said he would support measures that protect hospital staff: "If it provides safety for a nurse to keep her from being assaulted, just 1, then protecting that nurse is what I will vote for." Councilmember Hallam, the council representative on the jail oversight board, read state reporting data she said showed no escapes from Allegheny County custody in the decade after publicly available Department of Corrections records: "There have been 0 escape attempts reported to the Department of Corrections from the Allegheny County Jail or anyone in our custody since this referendum has been enacted."

Several speakers and council members pointed to the county's consent decree and existing use-of-force policy as legal constraints on the county and argued that reintroducing shackles could produce litigation or violate existing terms. Opponents also emphasized detainee vulnerability in medical settings, noting that many hospital transports involve detoxification, pregnancy or medical compromise.

Council considered the ordinance on the floor after the public-safety committee forwarded it without a recommendation. On the final roll call the motion to adopt Ordinance 13669-25 failed by a 2'to—2 margin (ayes: Bukowski, Walton; nays: Botta, Ambrosia, Filiachi, Fotoulis, Grisbeck, Hallam, Klein, Macy, Paul Messina, Prizio, President Katina).