The death of a mentally ill inmate at the Allegheny County Jail on Wednesday is being probed by the jail oversight board.
Anthony Talotta, 57, was incarcerated for only two weeks when he suffered a medical emergency on Sept. 20 and was assessed by the jail’s physician.
Talotta was cleared and sent back to his cell where his condition deteriorated within hours. He was rushed to a hospital where he died the following day.
“I went to the jail, and I talked to the people who were incarcerated on Mr. Talotta’s pod and their experience watching a man die in front of them was heartbreaking,” County Council member Bethany Hallam said.
Talotta was arrested and brought to jail after he poured boiling water on an employee at a living facility for disabled people.
He suffered “severe intellectual disabilities and severe autism and should not have been in a correctional institution.”
“This is a complete failure from the top, down to the bottom,” Hallam added.
