Kiley Koscinski / 90.5 WESA News
Free electronic tablets have been distributed to those incarcerated at the Allegheny County Jail as a way to connect them to the outside world through video calls, movies, eBooks and messaging. But there have been complaints about reliable connection and costs associated with accessing many of the tablet’s features.
The Allegheny County Jail purchased 2,200 GTL tablets in October. Incarcerated people can use them daily between 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. There are currently enough tablets for all incarcerated people at the jail; the population at ACJ as of Dec. 14 was 1,706. Officials say the devices cost $350 per unit.
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A Natrona Heights man who was an inmate in the Allegheny County Jail died of heart disease last month, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner said Friday.
Daniel Pastorek, 63, of Harrison, was found unresponsive in his cell on Thanksgiving at about 10:20 a.m., Warden Orlando Harper and the medical examiner said. Pastorek was soon pronounced dead by an emergency medical services physician.
Joe Napsha is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Joe at 724-836-5252, jnapsha@triblive.com or via Twitter .
The situation that led to the bologna dinner was caused by a kitchen staff shortage, which was caused by quarantining for possible covid-19 exposures.
As of Monday, the jail had 28 inmates who are currently infected with covid-19. Sixty-two workers have tested positive for the virus, since the pandemic began. Of those, 46 workers have recovered. County Spokeswoman Amie Downs declined to say how many inmates were in quarantine.
According to a written statement by Warden Orlando Harper, incarcerated people who worked in the jail’s kitchen had to be quarantined.
“Throughout the weekend, two of the three pods that work in the kitchen had inmates exhibiting symptoms and as a precautionary measure, no one on those pods were allowed to work their shifts,” Harper said.