One Billboard Outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania | 4

Summary

Death County, PA – Episode 4: One Billboard Outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Host: Wondery
Release Date: May 12, 2025

---

Introduction

In the fourth episode of Death County, PA, titled "One Billboard Outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania," host Joshua Vaughn delves deeper into the systemic issues plaguing Dauphin County Prison (DCP). This episode intertwines the personal journey of Justin Douglas, a former pastor turned political candidate, with the harrowing realities faced by inmates and the challenges of exposing institutional neglect.

---

Justin Douglas: From Pastor to Political Activist

Transition and Conviction

Justin Douglas, a distinctive figure with his bearded face, tattoos, and muscular build, emerges as a pastor at Bridge Church, an evangelical congregation in Dauphin County. Unlike typical pastors, Justin, affiliated with the Brethren in Christ denomination, champions inclusivity, particularly welcoming LGBTQ+ members.

• Congregational Support: On a pivotal Sunday, Justin spearheads a vote on maintaining an inclusive community. “[00:03:18]” the vote results overwhelmingly—133 in favor to just three against—solidifying the church's commitment to inclusivity.

• Conflict and Resilience: Despite this strong support, the national leaders of the Brethren in Christ revoke Justin's license due to his progressive stance. Justin recounts, “[04:06] They had somebody else ready to come in and lead... It was just really painful.” Undeterred, he establishes the Belong Collective, rallying his loyal congregation to continue their mission.

Entry into Politics

Facing personal and financial hardships, Justin balances multiple jobs, including driving for Uber and coaching CrossFit, while leading the Belong Collective. His commitment to social justice propels him towards political activism.

• Call to Action: In a serendipitous moment, Justin receives a call from Run for Something, urging him to run for Dolphin County Commissioner. “[07:25]” This opportunity aligns with his passion for prison reform, especially after learning about the alarming death rates at DCP.

---

Exposing the Crisis at Dauphin County Prison

Investigative Reporting

Joshua Vaughn, the episode’s narrator, shares his investigative efforts into DCP, uncovering systemic neglect and abuse.

• Inmate Testimonies: Through interviews with inmates like Stavon Crummell and Imatep Mohammed, the podcast reveals dire conditions and medical neglect. Stavon expresses his fear, “[14:14]... am I going to wake up alive?” highlighting the psychological toll of incarceration at DCP.

• Medical Negligence: Former nurse Tatiana Bunty exposes the shortcomings of Prime Care, the for-profit medical provider at DCP. She details instances where critical medications were denied, resulting in severe health consequences for inmates. “[19:06]... they gave her no medication. Medical neglect. Ridiculous.”

Challenges in Reporting

Joshua faces significant barriers in his reporting efforts. Access to the prison is restricted, and attempts to obtain records are met with resistance. Emails reveal that the DCP warden and county lawyer are actively monitoring and undermining his work. “[22:12]” instances where phone lines are cut during interviews indicate a deliberate attempt to silence the investigation.

---

Lamont Jones: Advocating for Change from Within

Background and Advocacy

Lamont Jones, a former inmate and member of the DCP Community Advisory Committee, becomes a pivotal figure in advocating for prison reform.

• Fighting Financial Exploitation: Lamont identifies and campaigns against the unjust "room and board" fees charged to inmates, which escalate with recidivism. “[25:16]” He explains, “This is pushing you further and further into a hole,” illustrating how these fees contribute to higher recidivism rates and financial instability post-release.

• Success and Ambition: After persistent advocacy, Lamont successfully lobbies for the termination of these fees. Empowered by this victory, he decides to run for Harrisburg City Council to further influence policy. “[27:19] I woke up and said, I'm going to do this.”

---

Intersection of Campaigns: Justin and Lamont

Mutual Support and Collaboration

Justin and Lamont’s campaigns intersect, fostering a powerful coalition aimed at overhauling the prison system. Justin is inspired by Lamont’s grassroots success and sees in him a kindred spirit.

• Community Engagement: Justin observes Lamont’s ability to galvanize community support. “[28:35]” He praises Lamont’s event turnout, noting, “He just had such a pulse on the community, and people were listening when he was talking.”

• Strategic Endorsements: At community events, Lamont encourages Justin to share his campaign message, reinforcing their mutual commitment to change. “[28:48]” Lamont’s inclusive approach exemplifies the collaborative spirit needed to challenge entrenched power structures.

---

A Bold Move: The Billboard Strategy

Campaign Innovation

Facing limited resources and stiff opposition, Justin devises a daring strategy to amplify his message: renting a billboard near a busy Walmart supercenter in Harrisburg.

• Message and Impact: The billboard boldly states, “18 prisoners dead since 2019. Vote for change on November 7th,” accompanied by Justin’s face and name. Despite advisor skepticism, Justin believes this move will educate the electorate and spotlight the urgent issues at DCP. “[34:56]”

• Public Reaction: The billboard garners immediate attention, with viewers reaching out to Justin. “[35:26]” This visibility marks a turning point in his campaign, drawing wider awareness to the high death rates and systemic failures within DCP.

---

Facing Increased Opposition

Escalating Conflict with DCP Administration

As Justin's campaign gains traction, the DCP administration intensifies its efforts to undermine him. They begin seizing campaign materials, cutting power, and further restricting access, signaling a deepening conflict.

• Underhanded Tactics: The administration's actions suggest a coordinated attempt to sabotage Justin's efforts to expose the truth about DCP. “[35:36]” This resistance underscores the entrenched nature of corruption and the lengths to which officials will go to maintain control.

---

Conclusion and Teaser

Episode 4 concludes with rising tensions as Justin's bold campaign strategies provoke a stronger backlash from the DCP administration. The stage is set for further revelations and confrontations in the quest to uncover the truth behind the mysterious deaths at Dauphin County Prison.

Next Episode Preview: The narrator hints at escalating challenges, including asset seizures and power cuts against Justin and his supporters, promising continued insights into the battle against institutional corruption.

---

Key Quotes

• Justin Douglas:
  “[03:27] We wanted to be an inclusive and welcoming community of the LGBT community.”
  “[10:22] I think we had like 10 days to get all the signatures we needed...”
  “[34:56]... Vote for change on November 7th.”

• Stavon Crummell:
  “[14:14]... am I going to wake up alive?”
  “[15:23]... they completely ignored me until I started writing grievances.”

• Tatiana Bunty:
  “[19:06]... Medical neglect. Ridiculous.”

---

Production Credits

• Written and Reported by: Joshua Vaughn
• Producer: Rachel Yong
• Senior Producers: Eric Benson and Chris Siegel
• Story Editor: Michael May
• Associate Producer: Emily Locke
• Fact Checking: Annika Robbins
• Sound Design and Mixing: Jeff Schmidt
• Audio Assistance: Daniel William Gonzalez
• Sound Supervisor: Marcelino Vialpondo
• Music Supervisor: Scott Velasquez

For more gripping stories of systemic injustice and personal courage, follow Death County, PA on the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred podcast platform.

Transcript

[Joshua Vaughn]

Wondry plus subscribers can binge all episodes of Death County, Pennsylvania early and ad free. Join Wondry in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts. It was a cloudy Sunday morning when Justin Douglas got to the Bridge Church.

[Justin Douglas]

I was out the door at 5am probably in my office preparing, going over my notes for my sermon.

[Joshua Vaughn]

The Bridge Church is about eight miles east of Harrisburg and Dolphin County Prison. At that time, Justin didn't have much reason to think about the jail. It was just a simple rectangular brick building, kind of like his church, pretty drab and unassuming. Justin, on the other hand, is a sight to behold. He's a big guy with a beard, visible tattoos on his arms and gauged ears. He looks like he's in a rock band, not a pastor at a small Pennsylvania church. And the sermon he was preparing that early morning wasn't an ordinary sermon.

[Justin Douglas]

We had advertised that we were going to come together, talk about who we are as a community, who we've been from our beginning, and take a vote for where people feel like we're going to go.

[Joshua Vaughn]

Justin's church was part of an evangelical denomination called the Brethren in Christ. Justin had taken a strong stance. He welcomed gay and lesbian members into Bridge Church. He was open to hiring them in church positions. On this Sunday, the community was going to take a vote on whether they wanted to continue Justin's approach. Members of the congregation were streaming through the doors.

[Justin Douglas]

The house was packed because we were really only supposed to fit about 100 people in that room. And I remember it being overflow down to the stairs to the foyer of people that wanted to be a part of that conversation.

[Joshua Vaughn]

But it wasn't just the churchgoers that were at Bridge Church that Sunday. When the national leaders of the Brethren in Christ found out Justin was welcoming gay and lesbian members, they strongly objected. So Justin invited the leadership to come to his church and hear from the congregation directly.

[Justin Douglas]

There was an open kind of popcorn. Does anyone have any comments to make?

[Joshua Vaughn]

Members of the church got up one by one and spoke. Open on the stage was Justin, the board of the Bridge Church and the president of the denomination.

[Justin Douglas]

Most of the people who spoke were either those who were family members of LGBT people in our community or LGBT people in our community. And most of what they said was incredibly heartbreaking. They shared experiences about how they can't talk to their family because they've been kicked out of their house, they're not safe around their family, and they found a family at the bridge and it would be a deep consequence to lose that kleenexes were out. It was very moving.

[Joshua Vaughn]

And then it was time for a vote.

[Justin Douglas]

The language of the vote was if we wanted to be an inclusive and welcoming community of the LGBT community.

[Joshua Vaughn]

It was a landslide. 133 in favor of being inclusive, just three votes opposed.

[Justin Douglas]

And so, if anything, that meeting really solidified us. Like, after that meeting, it was very clear who we were, what we were going to do, and where we were going to go.

[Joshua Vaughn]

Justin walked out of that meeting feeling good. He was confident that church leadership was going to back down once they saw what their own members wanted. After all, they were a thriving and growing church. He was wrong. They revoked his license.

[Justin Douglas]

They had somebody else ready to come in and lead. They had poached one of my staff members to come in and take over the church to try to pull that power back, which was just really painful. And I went overnight from a salary, a parsonage, security to nothing. All staff resigned in protest to their decision that they made. And they took everything, all the way down to guitar cables, laptops, bank accounts, properties. They took it all.

[Joshua Vaughn]

But they couldn't take Justin's congregants, the actual people who made up the church. They were loyal to Justin.

[Justin Douglas]

And the very next Sunday after that, we started a new church. The board reassembled under a new banner called the Belong Collective.

[Joshua Vaughn]

Justin was wounded and battle scarred, but he'd learned some valuable lessons on what it meant to be a leader and that standing up for marginalized people was something worth fighting for. When he heard about the deaths at Dolphin County Prison, he was outraged. And he knew one way or another, that would be his next fight. From Wondry and Pennlive, I'm Joshua Vaughn, and this is Death County. Who's going to feel my pain? Who's going to say my name? Ain't no joy but to be brave. This is episode four, One Billboard outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. When Justin Douglas was kicked out of the Brethren in Christ, he lost a lot. He lost his home. He lost his steady paycheck. He had two young kids, so he had to hustle to make ends meet. He drove for Uber part time, and in the mornings, he made people sweat.

[Justin Douglas]

I coached at the time at CrossFit Hershey, so I coached the 5:15 class in the morning, 6:30 class worked out during the window of time.

[Joshua Vaughn]

On top of all that, he was the pastor at the Belong Collective, and he and his congregation wanted to make an impact. When the city proposed clearing out a homeless encampment, the Belong Collective got involved. To Justin and his church, that was just wrong. Justin and the members of his church showed up with a U haul to help the displaced people move their belongings. Justin was a natural leader. But it was still surprising when one day between CrossFit classes, he got a random phone call.

[Justin Douglas]

Unrecognized number. Typically, just let it go to voicemail, move on. I don't know. I was feeling froggy. I was like, we're going to answer this and talk to this telemarketer. And it was someone from Run for Something kind of cold calling me.

[Joshua Vaughn]

Run for Something is a group that recruits young, progressive leaders and urges them to pursue political office. And they had a proposition for Justin. Run for Dolphin county commissioner.

[Justin Douglas]

So much of our county government is people who have been in those positions for a long period of time, and a new perspective could be helpful.

[Joshua Vaughn]

So Justin started seriously thinking about it.

[Justin Douglas]

And I began to kind of research, and I realized, oh, shoot, they oversee the prison.

[Joshua Vaughn]

Around this time, Justin had come across some of my reporting. And when he read about Jamal Crummell, he was outraged.

[Justin Douglas]

Like, the idea of someone in our prison freezing to death, you know, that I think was like, what's going on? How does our county not have the infrastructure or our prison system not have the infrastructure to. To ensure that we have temperature control?

[Joshua Vaughn]

And it wasn't just Jamal. Justin learned that there had been 18 deaths in the past four years. He wondered, why were so many people dying at dcp?

[Justin Douglas]

I'm a little bit of, like, a data nerd in some ways. Like, I went and started Googling, like, what does death in custody look like on a national scale or on even, like, a Pennsylvania scale?

[Joshua Vaughn]

Justin came across a News report from 2019.

[Justin Douglas]

In looking at that, it became clear that, like, based on the numbers per thousand, DCP was over double the national average. And that was like, how is this happening right in my backyard? You know what I mean?

[Joshua Vaughn]

Tyrique, Ishmael, Jamal, they were all a part of something much bigger that was going on at Dolphin County Prison, Something that felt nefarious. In the last five years, more people have died prematurely at DCP from apparent neglect or abuse than have been executed by the state in the last 50 years. As commissioner, Justin couldn't wave a magic wand and just fix the jail. But he and his two fellow commissioners would control the county budget, which included the jail and all the contractors who provided services there. That meant he could hire more corrections officers so that the current staff wasn't so stretched and overworked. He could ensure inmates had more outdoor recreation time. He could take A close look at Prime Care, who came up quite often in the stories about inmate deaths. He could make big sweeping changes just by saying yay or nay. He told run for something. Yes, he'd do it.

[Justin Douglas]

I think we had like 10 days to get all the signatures we needed. And it poured down rain for like seemed like 10 days. And we were just out in the rain, door to door, knocking, getting signatures, me and other volunteers. And we got the signatures we needed to get on the ballot. And then it was like, oh, well, let's see what happens.

[Joshua Vaughn]

Justin was in the race, but getting enough signatures was just the beginning. He was a long shot, an unknown first time candidate trying to get a seat on a commission steered by longtime incumbents. He was a super progressive Democrat in a pretty conservative county. This was the same county that kept re electing Graham Hetrick for the past 30 years. But he was confident that with the right message he could disrupt things. Honestly, I was excited for Justin and his candidacy. But while Justin wanted to change the system from the inside, I was finding out just how far the system would go to keep me on the outside. In Death County, Pennsylvania, Lamont Jones is fighting to uncover the truth about his cousin's death in Dolphin County Prison. But standing in his way is a reality TV corner and a system built on secrets. If you're captivated by stories of betrayal and cover ups, you should check out Wondry's podcast Exposed. This series reveals the horrifying crimes of Dr. Robert Haddon, an Ivy League OB GYN who assaulted hundreds of patients while the system protected him. From the prestigious halls of Columbia University to the courtrooms where survivors finally got their day in court, this is a story of power, accountability, and the courage it takes to fight back. Follow Exposed on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcast. You can binge all episodes of Exposed exclusively and ad free right now on Wondry. Plus. Start your free trial in the Wondry app, Apple podcasts, or Spotify. By the time Justin began his campaign for county commissioner, I had been reporting on DCP for about two years. My goal was to write stories that took people inside of the jail. People like Justin who could see the horrors and then want to do something about them. But reporting on DCP wasn't easy. For starters, I had been primarily working off of records, requests and interviews. I hadn't actually been in the building. They wouldn't give me any kind of tour, no matter how limited or chaperoned. In order to tell the stories of the inmates at dcp, they had to call Me on a recorded line.

[Stavon Crummell]

Hey, what's up, Jazz? Good morning.

[Joshua Vaughn]

Good morning. How you doing, man? Stavon Crummell is a cousin of Jamal's. I first talked to him a little over a year after Jamal's death. We spoke a few times. He gave me a really good sense of what was going on inside. When you heard this time that you were going to dcp, what was going through your head?

[Stavon Crummell]

Am I going to die? Are you going to kill me?

[Joshua Vaughn]

Is that because of what happened to Jamal?

[Stavon Crummell]

Yeah.

[Joshua Vaughn]

Stavon couldn't get the image of his cousin freezing to death out of his mind.

[Stavon Crummell]

It might be a day that I'm waking up depressed or something, anxious depressed, and I'm thinking about my cousin. So the first thing on my mind when I go to sleep is, am I going to wake up alive? And the last thing I wake up every day is, am I going to be alive or are they going to kill me?

[Joshua Vaughn]

Jamal had died after having medical and psychological needs that went unaddressed. It was enough to wonder what was going on with primecare, the for profit company that provided all medical services at dcp. Were they understaffed, under trained, or was something else going on? To hear Stavon tell, sounded like Prime Care had a habit of neglecting all kinds of medical requests.

[Stavon Crummell]

I've been denied mental health treatment multiple times. You got to put in a request slip. So then, you know, you put in a request slip. That show won't take, will take about two weeks. A person might have a life threatening issue that they need to get attended to at that moment and you're telling them to put in a request slip or wait to see him in a month. I did that previously two times. I never got to speak to the people for like two months.

[Joshua Vaughn]

Despite all that, Stavon is still here. That's not the case for everyone. In December 2023, medical staff ignored a medical slip, warning them that a man was planning to kill himself. That man died by suicide. There was another inmate who I started talking to, a guy named Imatep Mohammed.

[Stavon Crummell]

I had a anxiety attack and I fell and on my face and brushed my teeth up and everything.

[Joshua Vaughn]

He also had stories about obstacles to getting medical care at dcp. After he fell and messed up his face and teeth, they took me down to medical room.

[Stavon Crummell]

My face was swollen in my mouth and they thought it was funny. The nurse wanted to throw a little comment because it was around that close to Christmas. She was like, oh, I guess we'll be able to sing Christmas songs this.

[Joshua Vaughn]

Year, the nurse told him, I guess he won't be able to sing Christmas songs this year. According to court documents, instead of giving Imhotep painkillers, the nurse gave him salt water for his busted teeth. Then she sent him back to his cell. Imhotep insisted he needed more than just salt water. He thought he might have a concussion. But when he submitted medical slips asking to be evaluated, they ignored me for a whole month.

[Stavon Crummell]

They completely ignored me until I started writing grievances. And then when I was putting grievances in, I put about six in. The prison actually was hiding my grievances. The medical staff, I mean, you got some good nurses, but most of them, they don't help us.

[Joshua Vaughn]

Imhotep's allegation is part of an ongoing lawsuit. DCP hasn't confirmed these stories, but what Stavon and Imhotep told me about their medical slips going unanswered, they reflected a common concern I had heard from other inmates and from the medical staff inside dcp. I remember around the Christmas time, guy worked a significant amount of hours for night shift. This is Garth. He was a nurse with Prime Care at Dauphin County Prison. Garth isn't his real name. He wanted to remain anonymous. He's concerned about retaliation. I remember picking up sick call slips in some of the cell blocks that had been there for two or three weeks. And it's just frustrating that the other shifts didn't care enough to pick up the sick call slips. In Correctional Nursing, in my experience, a lot of the staff feel we don't have to give you the care and attention that you deserve. The saying goes, stupid games, stupid prizes. You want to go do something stupid? This is your prize, being incarcerated. And they just feel that they do not have to be as compassionate to them as someone who's not incarcerated when I don't believe in that. I had seen other evidence that Prime Care staff seemed to ignore inmate complaints. In one case, an inmate named Jimmy King reported having brutal headaches after getting in a fight with another inmate. According to court documents, Prime Care staff administered an X ray but didn't assess him for a traumatic brain injury. King kept telling medical staff he was having headaches, dizziness, and chest pain. He said he felt like he was bleeding inside his brain. Ten days later, he died of a brain hemorrhage. Tatiana Bunty, another former Prime Care nurse, told me about the case of one woman who suffered from epilepsy.

[Tatiana Bunty]

This inmate ended up having a seizure because she was not being given her.

[Joshua Vaughn]

Keppra when she was brought to dcp. She was taking Keppra, an anti seizure medication. According to Tatiana, the Prime Care nurse handling her intake told the woman that they couldn't fill her prescription right away. The pharmacy was closed and until it opened, they couldn't verify her prescription.

[Tatiana Bunty]

So my co worker and I took it upon ourselves to call the pharmacy which was not closed. We verified her medication, we got her on her Keppra, that is on Prime Care's end. That should have been verified. That medical neglect. Ridiculous.

[Joshua Vaughn]

And Tatiana says if a brand name medication was too expensive, it was a practice not to fill those prescriptions, even if the consequences could be terrible.

[Tatiana Bunty]

Like there's a medication, bipolar medication called Vraylar. Prime Care personally does not have the funding to have that medication. So if you come in and you are on that medication, instead of them finding a substitute for you kind of immediately, which can be done quickly in my opinion, you get put on the waiting list to talk to the doctor and then you're just given no medication.

[Joshua Vaughn]

Which could trigger a serious mental health episode. We reached out to Prime Care and they said there's an explanation for their approach to medical care. They told us there are times when medication may not be continued. For example, quote, they may not be verified, they could be harmful to the patient. They also told us that not all sick call slips require a face to face response, saying it is, quote, possible individuals do not receive the response they want, which in turn can be considered ignoring their request. There was this interlocking web. I was starting to see inmates suffering from mental illness getting sent to a jail that was overcrowded and understaffed, where correctional officers sometimes didn't follow their training, and where the third party medical staff said they were told to cut corners to save cash. Every penny that primecare spent came out of their potential profits. Just as I felt like I was really piecing a lot of things together, the county stopped honoring my right to know requests. It seemed like they thought I'd reported enough on the deaths at dcp. They said they weren't going to turn over any paperwork from DCP staffers about violent physical altercations anymore. Their excuse was that providing those reports could put the safety of the jail at risk. The county spokesperson actually told me that they had erred on the side of transparency when releasing the reports, but were no longer going to do that as DCP was cutting off my ability to monitor them. They were definitely monitoring me real quick.

[Stavon Crummell]

With the phone, if the phone just randomly hangs up. But nine out of 10 times when it does that, it's probably because they might be listening. Just give you a hands up just in case.

[Joshua Vaughn]

I had heard about this, how when someone at DCP wanted to listen in, the phone line would go dead for a second. Sure enough, just a few minutes later, the line cut out. I, I, I lost you. I don't know if you can still hear me, but I, I I completely lost you.

[Stavon Crummell]

I can hear you.

[Joshua Vaughn]

Okay, I got you. I got you now, yeah. Not long after, I got access to some emails from a source who worked at the county. They're from the DCP warden to senior jail staff and the county's lawyer. In one email, the warden says he's going to listen in on a phone call I've scheduled with someone at dcp. It reads. Hopefully he slips up on a recorded line. The jail's lawyer, who I learned had also listened in on my calls with DCP inmates, suggested they should use information they got from the calls and texts against me if possible. It was clear that the administration at DCP were looking for ways to get rid of me. When the warden was confronted about this during a public meeting, he brushed it off. He said he merely listens in on my calls because he knows inmates talk to me about their concerns. The administration at DCP could try to stop me from reporting, but I wasn't the only threat to the status quo at Dolphin County Prison. Lamont Jones worked inside DCP for years, and he was finally finding a way to get through to the people who had power over the jail.

[Lamont Jones]

They say you catch more bees with honey. I used a lot of vinegar in the beginning, you know, because I was angry and I had to reset myself and say, look, you have a purpose. You got a job to do.

[Joshua Vaughn]

Lamont was in his role as a member of the Dauphin County Prison Community Advisory Committee, which was just that, advisory. No real power. But he figured maybe with his catch bees with honey approach, he could make some improvements. He took aim at a policy that struck him as especially cruel and unusual. The county was actually charging some inmates to stay at dcp. They would have to pay a nightly rate to be locked up. They called it room and board fees.

[Lamont Jones]

You know, when they first started it, it was like a deterrent. So if you come back to prison, you get charged $5 a day for your stay there. Then it goes all the way. Each time you come back at that recidivism rate, it goes all the way up to $45 a day that you have to pay to be incarcerated.

[Joshua Vaughn]

Lamont saw this as a blatant example of the county taking advantage of inmates any way they could. These charges would add up. They were due as soon as an inmate was released.

[Lamont Jones]

So just imagine if I'm at $25 a day for 23 months, what that bill is going to look like. This is a rock I can't carry when I get out. And now I may have child support. Now I got court costs. Now I got, I got to pay the probation people. So you could see this is pushing you further and further into a hole. And most people, you're going to have a mindset of, man, I got to get this done. So they're going to go right back to the same activity that they were doing, trying to alleviate some of the pressure from these financial obligations, which ends up getting them deeper in trouble.

[Joshua Vaughn]

Lamont made it his signature issue on the advisory board. He told the county commissioners and the warden and everyone else how this policy was leading to recidivism, how it wasn't a deterrent, but was instead making everyone in the community less safe. He slowly felt like people were actually starting to listen to him. About a year after Lamont joined the board, Dolphin county officially ended the practice. Lamont had spent years trying to push for reforms. Now he'd actually achieved a major victory. He decided he would push for more, but with real power. Around the same time Justin was gearing up for his run for Dauphin county commissioner, Lamont entered the race for a seat on the Harrisburg City Council.

[Lamont Jones]

I woke up and said, I'm going to do this. I'm going to go down here, I'm going to get this application for the vacancy. And filled the application out, submitted it.

[Joshua Vaughn]

Lamont's life and work had given him a clear eyed view of the interconnected problems facing the city. He was practical. He knew he couldn't fix everything, but he thought just the experience he could bring to the council could open up new ways of looking at those problems. And he thought his candidacy itself would be a message.

[Lamont Jones]

I wanted to inspire other people that, you know, they say it's never too late to change, but they need to.

[Joshua Vaughn]

See that Lamont would be an unorthodox candidate with an improbable background. There was one person who was following his campaign closely.

[Justin Douglas]

I don't know that I remember the first time we met. We've been in the same circles for a while.

[Joshua Vaughn]

Justin would see Lamont at events and Justin was excited when he found out Lamont was going to run for office.

[Justin Douglas]

I thought the idea of him getting elected would be pretty amazing to see someone who was Formerly incarcerated, be a city councilman.

[Joshua Vaughn]

Justin was blown away by the coalition that Lamont was putting together.

[Justin Douglas]

I was amazed how much of the community turned out for his event. Like, he just had such a pulse on the community, and people were listening when he was talking.

[Joshua Vaughn]

At one point, while Lamont was talking, he turned to Justin.

[Justin Douglas]

And then I remember him being like, hey, Justin, you gotta come share a quick second about your campaign. And I was just like, dude, you don't owe me anything. Like, he hadn't endorsed me, I hadn't endorsed him, but I think he was just really inviting, and I think Lamont has the ability to bring people together.

[Joshua Vaughn]

In his own campaign. Justin was going to have to figure out a way to appeal to the community. Like Lamont, he needed to convince voters that a guy they'd never heard of should run the county. A guy whose main focus was on Dolphin county prison. Imagine you're living out in the suburbs of Harrisburg. You've got a nice ranch house, three kids, comfortable job, 401k. You're not that interested in politics. You want a safe and peaceful life. You want your kids to go to good schools and get good jobs. You hear a knock at the door, and you open it a crack. There's this big husky guy standing there with a beard and tattoos. At first glance, he's kind of intimidating. Your first instinct is to get him away from the door as fast as you can. But before you can do that, he starts to speak.

[Justin Douglas]

Hi, my name is Justin Douglas. I'm running for Dauphin county commissioner. Good to meet you today. I'd love to talk to you about why I chose to run.

[Joshua Vaughn]

Justin pulls out a flyer. He hands it to you, and if you give him a second, he starts talking.

[Justin Douglas]

I would say, I don't know if you're aware, but we've had 18 prisoners die in Dauphin County Prison in the last four years. Since the last time you voted for.

[Joshua Vaughn]

County commissioners, Justin was hoping that line 18 deaths in the last four years would shock the potential voters standing in front of him. And if you're that suburban voter, maybe you keep listening to what Justin has to say.

[Justin Douglas]

I think that's unacceptable, and I think we need to remedy that.

[Joshua Vaughn]

Justin knew he'd have to stand out to have a chance. The Dolphin county commissioners had long been a group of insiders. They had deep roots in the area. They were often strongly committed to the status quo, which put a tattooed preacher from out of town who advocated for the rights of the queer community, the homeless and the incarcerated, at a sizable disadvantage. Two of the three incumbent commissioners were basically shoo ins. But the third seat was held by someone who had never been elected. He had been appointed when the former chairman, a guy named Jeff Haist, had retired. Justin, like everyone in Dauphin county, was aware of Jeff Haist.

[Justin Douglas]

I think there is a good old boys club network in Dauphin county, and my estimation is he was one of the people at the top of that. He was definitely aligned with very powerful people. It seems as if he had personal relationships with just about every vendor in the county.

[Joshua Vaughn]

Haste had hand selected a nominee to take his old seat who'd been voted in unanimously by a panel of county judges. To Republicans, that seat seemed safe from the opposition, Especially if the opposition was a bleeding heart liberal like Justin Douglas. And they weren't the only ones writing him off. Justin had well meaning campaign advisors who were saying that his strategy of focusing on the jail was a terrible idea.

[Justin Douglas]

They'd tell him, can't run on prison reform. No one will vote for you. And so we just were like, we're going to do what we're going to do and we'll lose.

[Joshua Vaughn]

I guess there were times where Justin felt like he was going to be vindicated, that voters wanted something different. But then there were times when Justin wasn't so sure.

[Justin Douglas]

There was definitely doors I knocked on where it was like, well, that's what they deserve.

[Joshua Vaughn]

Justin would walk away and try to psych himself up to keep going. He'd remind himself of the voters who seemed receptive. But as the spring turned into summer, Justin wondered if maybe he'd miscalculated, if maybe Dolphin county was less like the congregants in his church than he thought. Maybe Dolphin county wasn't interested in change.

[Justin Douglas]

And I just remember, like, I think it was a Saturday and I had a whole strategy and plan for how many doors I was gonna knock. And I just didn't want to get out of bed. I was so exhausted and I just felt like, what am I doing?

[Joshua Vaughn]

He would have to make a bold move or just give it all up. The idea came to him in a flash. He was out on Paxton Road, east of downtown Harrisburg. Across the street was the local Walmart supercenter. Justin saw just how many cars drove by.

[Justin Douglas]

Pretty much. I had to do something big to get people's attention.

[Joshua Vaughn]

He thought, what if we rent one of those billboards for six weeks and use it to tell people about the deaths at dcp? As expected, Justin's advisors weren't exactly on board.

[Justin Douglas]

We had multiple strategists tell us our billboard was a bad idea and a waste of money.

[Joshua Vaughn]

Money was the biggest problem for the campaign. They didn't have very much of it.

[Justin Douglas]

When this came, we were like, this is going to be like 40% of our budget. We've got one shot. Like, this is kind of like, you know, your Eminem moment, if you will. You know what I mean? Mom's spaghetti.

[Joshua Vaughn]

So Justin came up with his message.

[Justin Douglas]

We went with very big, bold letters. 18 prisoners dead since 2019 vote for change on November 7th. I felt deeply, and I think most of my team did, that if we lost, we could at least say we educated a large amount of Dauphin county on a problem of prisoner deaths and that we would have a more educated voter base for the future.

[Joshua Vaughn]

As soon as the billboard went up, people noticed.

[Justin Douglas]

I started getting texts from people like, I saw your billboard and what's funny is the smallest thing on the billboard is my face and my name.

[Joshua Vaughn]

That was fine with Justin. He was putting out the message he wanted voters to hear here. And as Justin was trying to get inside and turn things around at dcp, the cruelty at the jail was about to rise to a whole new level. They started shaking us down. Then they took some of our clothes, then they took our paperwork, then they took everything. And then they cut the power off. That's on the next episode of Death County, Pennsylvania. Follow Death County PA on the Wondry app, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of Death County PA early and ad free by joining Wondry plus in the Wondry app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short [e-mail] survey if you have a tip about a story you think we should investigate, please write to [e-mail] tips from Wondry and PennLive. This is episode four of six of Death County, Pennsylvania. Death County, Pennsylvania is written and reported by me. Joshua Vaughn. Producer is Rachel Yong. Senior producers are Eric Benson and Chris Siegel. Story editor is Michael May. Associate producer is Emily Locke. Fact checking by Annika Robbins Sound design and mixing by Jeff Schmidt. Audio assistance by Daniel William Gonzalez. Sound supervisor is Marcelino Vialpondo. Music supervisor is Scott Velasquez. For FreeSun Sync. Senior managing producer is Latta Pandya. Managing producers are Heather Beloga and Matt Gant. Senior development editor is Rachel B. Doyle. Development producer is Olivia Weber. Executive producers for Advanced Local are Richard Dimon and Selena Roberts. Executive producers are n' J' Jeri Eaton, George Lavender, Marshall, Louie and Jen Sargent for Wonder.