A Tyrone woman who was in the Blair County Prison for about three months this year has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging the facility was overcrowded and unsanitary.

The former inmate, Dottie Kay Jablonski (Brenneman), 39, also reported that during her stay her right hand was injured “due to my finger being smashed in a heavy door.”

She contended her injury went untreated and to this day remains painful.

Her lawsuit names as defendants the warden, a deputy warden and a lieutenant, as well as the prison’s medical provider, PrimeCare Medical Inc., of Harrisburg.

In the lawsuit entitled, “Why I am suing Blair County Prison,” Brenneman reported her prison experience has caused her to suffer from post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression and, it concluded, “My civil rights were violated.”

Her lawsuit is now among more than 30 penned by inmates over the past couple of years.

At least one of the lawsuits includes multiple inmates who are part of a class action that has remained inactive for months.

Brenneman outlined that her stay locally lasted from Jan. 21, 2026, until April 13, 2026.

She said she was initially placed in a 48-hour holding cell.

After four days there, she was placed in a regular cell, which contained six women.

The cell was overcrowded, which meant two inmates had to sleep on floor mats two inches thick.

She was, for a time, one of those sleeping on the floor.

The inmates ate their meals in the cells, she stated, noting at the time, the sinks were clogged and toilets were leaking.

Inmates remained in the cells for 20 hours a day, Brenneman stated.

She reported she received Medication-Assisted Treatment, and Brenneman complains that her medical issues were talked about while other inmates were present, which she maintained was a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, known as HIPPA.

Brenneman stated that twice she was given MAT meant for other inmates.

Her hand was injured when it was hit by a heavy door that closes and locks automatically.

She stated that she received no treatment for her injury.

Brenneman indicated she felt her food was unsanitary, and she said she could not stop throwing up after she noticed a ketchup package in her food that had tiny holes in it “like a mouse had nibbled on it.”

“That being said, I am suing Blair County Prison due to my HIPPA rights being violated and the pain of my hand/finger … also for the health and living conditions.

“I now suffer from PTSD due to CO’s mistreating myself and other inmates including mental health inmates,” she stated in her lawsuit.

Brenneman is seeking damages in the amount of $300,000.

She was released from Blair County Prison in April but still remains behind bars in Perry County.

State court records indicate in 2024, she was sentenced to a term of six months to five years by a Perry County judge for a second offense of impaired driving.

Her case was transferred to Blair County for supervision.

On April 15, she was returned to the Perry County Prison.

She was arrested in January by Tyrone police for allegedly stealing more than $7,000 while serving as a caregiver for a dependent person.

In Blair County, she faces more than 1,000 charges of identity theft, accessing a device issued to another, criminal use of a communication facility, theft and the financial exploitation of a care dependent person.

Her Blair County cases are awaiting a date for trial.