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Authorizing the Joint Committees on Public Safety and Legislative Oversight to hold hearings examining actions necessary to significantly reduce the Philadelphia prison population in an effort to permanently close Philadelphia’s oldest and most inhumane prison facility, The Detention Center.
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WHEREAS, Between 2015 and 2022, the City of Philadelphia participated in the MacArthur Foundation Safety and Justice Challenge, where we enacted a comprehensive reform plan to sharply reduce the Philadelphia prison population; and
WHEREAS, Through focused interdepartmental coordination, we successfully reduced the population by 54%, from its baseline of 8,082 in July 2015 to an all time low of 3,725 in April 2020; and
WHEREAS, This reduction resulted in thousands fewer pre-trial detainees facing horrifying and inhumane conditions in Philadelphia jail facilities; and
WHEREAS, This reduction also improved conditions for overworked and at-risk prison staff; and
WHEREAS, Moreover, the population reduction saved taxpayers millions of public dollars spent holding pre-trial detainees while they awaited slow court processing; and
WHEREAS, Despite our initial progress with the MacArthur challenge, we are at serious risk of sliding backwards, jeopardizing the lives of incarcerated Philadelphians, the working conditions of prison staff, and the gross misspending of taxpayer dollars; and
WHEREAS, July 2024’s population of 4,811 marks the highest prison population since October 2019 and the sharpest month-to-month increase since January 2021; and
WHEREAS, Moreover, the average length of stay has actually increased from 198.8 days to 234.1 days from July 2015 to today, which is far above the national average; and
WHEREAS, Regardless of our progress in reducing the population, Philadelphia prison facility conditions continue to be some of the worse in the nation, violating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and risking the lives of Philadelphians every day; and
WHEREAS, In April 2022, 10 people incarcerated in Philadelphia prison facilities reached a class action settlement agreement with the City of Philadelphia, in Remick et. Al. v. City of Philadelphia, over the inhumane conditions they faced in Philadelphia facilities; and
WHEREAS, This settlement appointed a Federal Court Monitor to evaluate the City’s progress toward implementing the changes required to immediately address and improve conditions for people incarcerated in the Philadelphia Department of Prisons; and
WHEREAS, In July 2024, U.S. District Judge Gerald A McHugh found the City of Philadelphia in contempt of this 2022 settlement agreement. The City was then ordered to pay twenty-five million dollars into a dedicated fund and to take urgent action to address the conditions at the City’s jails; and
WHEREAS, These inhumane conditions are maintained due to a combination of acute staffing shortages and the age and physical conditions of certain facilities; and
WHEREAS, The Federal Court Monitor has reported that current prison staffing is less than half of what would be required to safely operate facilities with the current population; and
WHEREAS, As a result of this staffing shortage, incarcerated individuals face hazardous and unsanitary living conditions, a backlog in off-site medical appointments, and an inability to receive timely medical and behavioral health care. Furthermore, these individuals are not provided the court-mandated 1 hour of out-of-cell time per day, which is a clear and egregious violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In reality, most of them are lucky to receive one hour per week of out-of-cell time; and
WHEREAS, The oldest Philadelphia prison facility, The Detention Center, opened in 1963 and is unfit to house incarcerated people in the modern era. Large sections of the facility lack air conditioning and internal temperatures can easily stay above 90 degrees on summer days. The facility is also infested with rodents and cockroaches, which eat through commissary items and spread disease. Finally, the facility consistently floods, which can trap incarcerated individuals in their cells for days; and
WHEREAS, According to Philadelphia Department of Prisons officials, a population reduction of roughly 500 people would enable the city to permanently close the Detention Center, which would greatly ease the demands on staff and improve conditions for the remaining three facilities; and
WHEREAS, PDP Commissioner Michael Resnick has also stated on the record that one of his main priorities is to decrease the population in PDP facilities; and
WHEREAS, The clear step forward is for us to refocus and redouble our efforts on aggressively and systematically reducing the Philadelphia prison population, with the short-term goal of closing The Detention Center; and
WHEREAS, Success will require deep collaboration between City Council, the Mayor’s Administration, the Office of the District Attorney, and the First Judicial District; and
WHEREAS, As the City of brother love, sisterly effectiveness, and sibling solidarity and as a City of the First Class in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia cannot continue to violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights daily in its prison facilities. We must act now to swiftly reduce the prison population and to close The Detention Center permanently; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, THAT THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, Hereby authorizes the joint Committees on Public Safety and Legislative Oversight to hold hearings examining actions that must be taken to significantly reduce the Philadelphia prison population in an effort to permanently close Philadelphia’s oldest and most inhumane prison facility, the Detention Center.
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