The back of the Blair County Prison facing Mulberry Street is seen on Friday. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

Inmates of the Blair County Prison who are filing federal lawsuits to improve their living conditions have turned to yet another source for help — the Blair County Chapter of the Pennsylvania Prison Society.

Inmate lawsuits are nothing new, but normally they involve individual cases in which a person is complaining about his lawyer, improper rulings by a judge, or the fact that the prosecution was flawed.

However, in the past two months, Blair County inmates have filed 10 lawsuits — and the number is growing — concerning the conditions under which they must live.

One inmate for instance claimed, “I live in black mold. I have absolutely no access to the law library so I can’t defend myself in court. I have no access to the phone so I can’t call my lawyer or anybody … I am being tortured because of me speaking out.”

Because he is speaking out, he claims his life is in danger.

Last month, the Mirror received an unsigned letter addressed from “the inmates of Blair County Prison.”

While the letter was unsigned, it spoke primarily about the issues that were being raised in the federal lawsuits, which the Mirror has covered and has used the complaining inmate names.

The letter outlined the issues facing the inmates and Blair County:

“The building (the Blair County Prison) is overrun with asbestos, mold and lead paint … The mouse infestation poses a litany of health hazards … We have never witnessed any attempt to try to slow down the infestation … In January and February of 2025, inmates suffered stomach issues — clearly salmonella suffered from excretion during mice breeding.”

“From February to June 11th, 2015, 41 inmates had no hot water access except when the DOC (Department of Corrections) surprised them on June 1, 2025, they turned it on to deceive them. The water system is unhygienic and has a horrible taste.”

The letter lists multiple other issues and noted that hundreds of grievances have been filed by dozens of inmates.

“We have been stressing deplorable conditions and horrible behaviors throughout 2025 via tablet and kiosk. They were ignored and marked complete and even deleted, no possible appeal, no resolution gained.”

The letter concluded, “We are being made to live in deplorable conditions. Even a former warden (not named) came out and said the prison is in deplorable condition.”

“Why are human beings made to endure these conditions?” the letter asks.

While many of the inmates are seeking change through federal lawsuits, some of the inmates indicated in their petitions that they have sought counsel with representatives of the Pennsylvania Prison Society.

The Society was founded in 1787, asserting the need for prison reform and has continued until the present.

More than 30 years ago, through the efforts of Ernest Fuller, a resident of Six Mile Run, a Blair County chapter was established.

Volunteers of the organization make monthly visits to the Blair County facility, but, as Fuller explained, the Society’s emphasis is not focused on lawsuits, but on the problems facing individual inmates.

Fuller had the distinction in September of being named the Pennsylvania Prison Society’s Volunteer of the Year for his “humble, devoted, calm and persistent” devotion to addressing the issues presented to him and other volunteers by inmates.

“We don’t get involved in legal cases,” he stated this past week, but they do meet with inmates and then present issues of concern to the warden and deputy warden of the prison.

As the Society’s Volunteer of the Year, his photograph is displayed on the Society’s web page.

It quotes, “Trying to get things changed in the prison system is quite discouraging, but helping individual people is a real joy.”

He said the volunteers tour several cell blocks in the prison, talk to multiple inmates and then try to find ways to help the inmate.

The volunteer meets with prison officials. Sometimes those discussions lead to changes and sometimes they don’t, he explained.

He emphasized that the primary problem in Blair County is the structure itself.

“The problem is a physical problem,” he stated.

For instance, at one point this year, the population of the prison jumped to more than 400 inmates.

At 400 inmates, “Yes the prison is crowded,” Fuller stated.

“The conditions are really bad because of the physical structure they have to work with,” he continued.

An overcrowded facility makes it difficult to provide recreation for the inmates.

“They can’t have recreation for all the population. One thing creates a problem for another thing and that creates a problem for other things,” Fuller emphasized.

Blair is seeking to build a new prison, but that will take time, he expressed.

The Blair Prison is overcrowded and understaffed, stated Fuller.

Another representative of the Pennsylvania Prison Society is Noah Barth of Philadelphia.

In his role, he has visited 50 prisons in Pennsylvania, and while he does not compare or rate one prison as opposed to another prison, he noted that conditions in Blair are “pretty bad.”

The inmate lawsuits have mentioned, but not focused on, the overcrowding issue.

Barth said he visited the Blair County Prison in August and noted two situations that concerned him.

He stated that the gym in the prison is being used to house 37 male inmates.

They sleep on cots. The inmates are served by one toilet, one sink and one shower.

The only outdoor recreation time is after midnight, he explained, and the lights in the gym are never turned off.

He then toured the women’s section of the prison, where he stated six women were being confined in cells built for four inmates.

He stated two female inmates who were pregnant had to sleep on the floor.

Two other pregnant females had just been moved to beds, he stated.

He presented these situations to the administration but noted “their hands are tied.”

They must accept those who are brought to the prison by police or who are ordered incarcerated by a judge.

The mission of the Prison Society is to work “to promote the health, safety and dignity of people in prison and their families,” Barth explained.

That entails working with inmates and their families, he explained.

Martha Smith of Clearfield County initially helped bring light to the Blair County Prison issue.

Her daughter’s boyfriend is incarcerated in Blair County awaiting trial, and she became aware that he had found parts of a mouse in his food.

She helped make that case public, noting, “These are human beings. These are God’s people. They don’t deserve to live in these conditions.”

The boyfriend is contemplating yet another lawsuit.