On June 26, 2018, the ACLU of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project filed a class-action lawsuit challenging the cruel and inhumane living conditions for prisoners at the Fayette County Prison. The lawsuit alleges that the county-operated prison, built in 1889, is hazardous to prisoners’ health and safety. Inmates and guards at the prison report serious pest infestations, including rats and cockroaches, black mold, exposed wiring, repeated sewage back-ups into inmate cells, lack of running water, and extreme temperature fluctuations during the winter and summer months.
The lawsuit seeks to compel Fayette County to build a new prison and make the current one habitable in the meantime.
