Brittany Hailer

A third incarcerated person has died after being placed on the Allegheny County Jail’s detox protocol this year. 

Zachary Sahm, 27, was placed on the jail’s detoxification protocol after testing positive for fentanyl, methamphetamine and amphetamines, according to Warden Orlando Harper. Sahm was found “in medical distress” around 7:30 a.m. on September 13. He was taken to a hospital where he died at 9:17 a.m. that same day, according to Harper. 

Two other men, Tim Manino, 60 and James Washington, 42, also died following testing positive for drugs and undergoing the jail’s detoxification protocol. This month, the Allegheny County medical examiner determined that those two deaths were accidents.

Tim Manino, 60, died of a combined-drug overdose which included fentanyl and para-fluorofentanyl, a synthetic opioid, according to the medical examiner. 

Jail staff performed CPR on Manino for approximately 30 minutes until paramedics arrived and pronounced Manino dead at around 4:30 p.m. on May 25. The county did not indicate where in the jail the Manino was housed. 

The county reported that Manino was arrested on a bench warrant for retail theft on May 22. On May 23, a drug screening administered showed the presence of opiates. Manino underwent a detox protocol that same day, according to the county. 

James Washington, 42, died of a brain hemorrhage, according to the medical examiner. Washington died at UPMC Mercy Hospital after he was released from jail custody. Washington had also been placed on a detox protocol in the jail’s intake unit before he died.

 21 men have died following their incarceration at the jail since April 2020.