The Allegheny County Jail on Sept. 7, 2023, in Uptown. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/PublicSource)
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Aaron Tipton still has nightmares about his time at the Allegheny County Jail, which he attributes in part to a sergeant there who has been named in seven civil rights lawsuits since 2020.
When Tipton was in the jail in 2022 and 2023, he accused several corrections officers of abuse, then became the subject of unwanted attention from Sgt. Hunter Sarver, he alleged in a lawsuit filed last year.
Tipton, a 32-year-old man from Penn Hills, said in a complaint in federal court that Sarver in 2023 began “performing strip searches of [Tipton], without justification, and subjecting [Tipton] to solitary confinement, without justification.”
When Tipton filed grievances against Sarver, according to the complaint, things got worse. Tipton said Sarver began retaliating against him for filing the grievances by “performing daily anal searches” of Tipton.
“I felt vulnerable. I felt like I couldn’t do anything,” Tipton said in an interview with PublicSource. “I was just always on eggshells every time he came around because I felt like he could just do whatever he wanted to. And there was nothing I could do about it.”
There have been six other lawsuits filed since 2020 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania naming Sarver as a defendant. Tipton is the only plaintiff so far to be represented by lawyers. Five of the other cases have been dismissed or closed on procedural grounds.
It’s not uncommon for incarcerated people to make allegations against correctional personnel. A PublicSource review of federal court files found at least 149 civil cases targeting Allegheny County Jail employees since 2017, when Sarver was hired at the jail as a corrections officer.
Other than jail administrators, who are routinely named in civil actions against the jail, no one has been named more than Sarver since 2020.
John Kenstowicz, a social worker and advocate for the jail’s staff, said it’s important to consider what sort of duties an accused officer has. If an officer is assigned “high-risk duties” that could lead to more physical confrontations, then they could more often become the subject of lawsuits, he said.
Examples of high-risk duties include working at intake or on the mental health unit, and transporting incarcerated people, he said. A “prime example” is searching cells for K2, also known as “spice” — a synthetic cannabinoid popular in jails and prisons.
“Obviously, if an officer has the assignment of going into cells and searching for K2, that officer is going to have a different kind of interaction with a resident than an officer sitting up front at the front desk where not much happens,” Kenstowicz said.
Court papers indicate that Sarver searches cells and persons for contraband, including drugs. Searches have historically been problematic at the jail.
Neither Sarver nor the leader of the union representing jail sergeants responded to multiple requests for comment on his duties or the accusations, and the county declined to discuss personnel issues.
Alexandra Morgan-Kurtz, deputy director of the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project, said while it’s common for there to be “officers or staff who are known to be problematic” in any correctional sphere, being named in more than five cases in a five-year span “feels incredibly uncommon.”
Plaintiff: William P. Jackson
When filed: June 2023
Accusations: Jackson alleged harassment by Sarver and nine other jail employees, detailing eight cell searches in May 2023 in which Sarver allegedly threw his belongings, including legal documents, onto the floor. Jackson also wrote that during a lockdown, and following the discovery of contraband, Sarver made disparaging and sexually explicit comments toward him while transferring him to the disciplinary Restricted Housing Unit [RHU]. Jackson also claimed Sarver labeled him a snitch to other inmates, which he believed led to an assault.
Disposition: The case was closed after he failed to either pay a filing fee or file paperwork required to proceed without paying.
Sarver has been mentioned, by name, at three meetings of the county’s Jail Oversight Board, which does not typically hear critiques of the work of named corrections officers or sergeants. He has also been named in at least six jail inspection reports conducted between March 2024 and March 2025 by Jail Oversight Board members Bethany Hallam and Muhammad Ali Nasir commonly known as MAN-E.
Hallam, a member of county council, said hearing complaints about individual staff is not uncommon during facility inspections, but Sarver is “by far” the name she has heard the most over her past five years on the board.
“Repeated and consistent complaints which single out a specific staff member, especially where allegations include violent treatment and assault, is a clear signal that something is not right and needs to be investigated thoroughly,” Hallam said.
While county administration officials would not provide information about any investigations, they outlined procedures.
Jesse Geleynse, public information officer for the jail, said “allegations made against any employee are subject to an administrative review and may be turned over to the Allegheny County Police Department’s Internal Affairs for full investigation.”
Allegheny County Police spokesman Jim Madalinsky said the department has multiple officers assigned to handle investigations involving the jail, including those stemming from complaints by people held in the jail, staff and outside individuals or agencies.
“Once an investigation is initiated, detectives will consult with the district attorney’s office when appropriate to determine if the matter is a criminal investigation or policy violation. All investigations are also submitted to ACJ administration for review,” Madalinksy said.
State dockets show no charges against Sarver.
Plaintiff: Antwan McCarrel
When filed: September 2024
Accusations: McCarrel, a pretrial detainee, wrote that Sarver and other officers used excessive force during medication distribution, involving physical assault and Taser deployment. In an amended complaint filed on April 9, 2025, McCarrel focused on two incidents from 2024, writing that he was subjected to “an unlawful visual search of his body” in April and to shocks from a Taser while in line for medication in July. His complaint states that, both times, the physical assault was initiated by Sarver and other jail staff after a verbal dispute.
Disposition: The county has filed a motion to dismiss the case, which remains open.
Some of the accusations against Sarver relate to strip searches — a subject that has gotten the county into court in the past.
In a 2006 lawsuit, people who had been held in the jail argued that strip searches of those arrested on minor offenses were unconstitutional unless jail staff had reason to believe the people being searched had contraband.
The case resulted in a $3 million settlement, with up to a third going to attorneys’ fees, while the rest was shared between thousands of people accused of misdemeanors, traffic offenses and summary offenses who were strip searched at the jail from mid-2004 through early 2008. It also prompted the county to stop routinely strip searching people facing minor charges.
Kenstowicz said rule changes at the jail haven’t always been followed by thorough training.
He said since a 2021 ban on the use of leg shackles, OC spray and restraint chairs at the lockup, there has been a “void” in the training.
“They were trained on using those three tools. Now they don’t have those,” he said.
Kenstowicz said that in a survey he administered to 194 corrections officers at the jail last year, 70.6% of those respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement, “I have had enough training to perform the work I am expected to do.”
“So what they’ve been asking for, and I’ve been asking for, is a scenario-based training, and that’s what a lot of the experts want. You don’t need scenario-based training on everything, but in these interactions with residents, you need to be in a classroom with an expert, where officers can talk, ask questions and follow a video.”
Plaintiff: Allen L. St. Charles
When filed: August 2021
Accusations: St. Charles wrote that he alleged drug trafficking within the jail and that his reports of this activity were brought to Sarver. According to St. Charles’ complaint, Sarver’s response focused on the volume of grievances St. Charles filed, and resulted in no substantive action on the concerns.
Disposition: In 2022, St. Charles filed a motion claiming that he was being prevented from accessing the jail’s law library and requesting a six-month extension on the deadline for his next filing. He added that if an extension was not possible the judge should dismiss the case without prejudice — meaning he could resume pursuit at a later date — which the judge did. There is no indication in court records that he continued to litigate.
Dolly Prabhu, a staff attorney with the Abolitionist Law Center, said an incarcerated person’s ability to bring a viable civil case against jail staff is limited by a requirement called “exhaustion.” They must exhaust all legal remedies before they can file a viable legal case.
“So if there is an internal system available to them, like a grievance process within the jail or prison, they have to go through that process first before they are able to bring a civil case. A lot of cases get dismissed because someone didn’t meet their exhaustion requirements,” Prabhu said.
PublicSource filed a public records request for all grievances filed by people incarcerated at the jail since 2017 that mention Sarver. In response, the county provided about 350 pages of grievances — largely consisting of routine requests, rather than complaints — redacting identifying information for the incarcerated people.
The county withheld an unknown number of records, citing seven exemption clauses from the Right-to-Know Law, including exceptions for:
- Information relating to any non-criminal investigation,
- Information that could result in substantial risk of physical harm to an individual
- Written criticism of a county employee.
According to Prabhu, who has authored studies on the county’s justice system and jail, the exhaustion requirement is another barrier to incarcerated people’s ability to fight for their rights, and it “doesn’t take into account the fact that retaliation is very real and people are afraid, especially when they’re complaining about someone who works on their pod.”
Plaintiff: Lafon Davon Ellis
When filed: December 2022
Accusations: Ellis wrote that Sarver falsely accused him of possession of contraband, resulting in transfer to the RHU.
Disposition: The case was closed after Ellis failed to either pay a filing fee or file paperwork to proceed without paying.
Tipton’s lawsuit details events beginning in September 2022.
That month, according to the lawsuit, Tipton alleges he was attacked by three corrections officers without provocation or justification during a strip search while handcuffed and naked.
The complaint continues, alleging the officers forced him to the ground and repeatedly punched and kicked his head, neck and chest, despite his lack of resistance. Tipton later experienced severe pain, numbness and weakness in his arm, which was later diagnosed as multiple fractures requiring surgery.
Sometime after that, the complaint states, Sarver began to target Tipton with unwarranted strip searches and solitary confinement.
When Tipton filed grievances against Sarver’s conduct, per the lawsuit, the sergeant intensified it to “daily anal searches” while Tipton was in solitary confinement.
Plaintiff: Randall E. Hockett
When filed: January 2020
Accusations: Hockett sued 17 county employees, accusing jail staff of misplacing or destroying his legal paperwork and thus depriving him of the right to a fair trial. He wrote that Sarver took him to disciplinary custody, promising to bring his property later, but never did, and the property was lost. He was later convicted of assault of a law enforcement officer and sentenced to at least 47 years in prison.
Disposition: The case was closed after he failed to either pay a filing fee or file paperwork required to proceed without paying.
In his lawsuit, Tipton also alleged Sarver “planted contraband” in his cell during a search, for which Tipton was criminally charged.
According to a criminal complaint filed on Sept. 8, 2023, Sarver reported he searched Tipton’s cell “because it was reported to him that inmate Aaron Tipton appeared to be under the influence of an unknown substance.” Sarver found “3 fingers of nitrile gloves with white cotton fiber paper within,” which Tipton reportedly identified as belonging to himself. The papers tested positive for substances and were turned over to internal affairs.
The criminal docket shows Tipton was arrested the following month and charged with possession of a controlled substance, to which he filed a negotiated guilty plea, resulting in a sentence of six to 12 months of confinement.
Tipton is presently serving time in a state prison on the aggravated assault charge, from a 2019 incident, for which he was incarcerated pre-trial during the encounters with Sarver.
Plaintiff: James T. Byrd
When filed: October 2023
Accusations: Byrd’s complaint doesn’t detail specific incidents involving Sarver, but instead names him within a system that Byrd claims facilitates abuse. The complaint said that the jail provides inadequate medical and mental health care while allowing excessive use of force, punitive conditions within solitary confinement and retaliation against inmates who attempt to exercise their constitutional rights. The complaint asserts that ranking jail officials, including sergeants, adopted a practice of subjecting specific inmates to harsh conditions during administrative custody.
Disposition: The case was closed by the courts due to deficiencies in the complaint.
Arshi Qureshi is a New York-based freelance journalist. She can be reached at aq2249@columbia.edu.
Bella Markovitz is a journalist and former PublicSource intern and can be reached at btmarkovitz@gmail.com.
Photos by Stephanie Strasburg.
This story was fact-checked by Spencer Levering.
This article first appeared on PublicSource and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
