Update
We are excited to announce the launch of our new interactive map of Pennsylvania county prisons and jails, a one-of-a-kind resource that provides updated information on local correctional facilities across the commonwealth.
You can use it to explore the just-released data from our latest round of county surveys, which received responses from 47 of the state’s 62 county jails between March and July. The takeaways from this round include:
- Staffing remains thin, with 45% of jails reporting shortages of 10% or more for full-time corrections officers.
- The shortages extend to medical staff. Only 58% of jails that answered the question reported having a full complement of full-time medical staff.
- Some jails lack air conditioning, leaving incarcerated people vulnerable to heat-related illness. Five jails out of the 45 that responded reported not having air conditioning.
- Nine jails reported not having an outdoor, open-air recreation area for incarcerated people.
The interactive map presents a selection of key info on county jails collected during our biannual surveys. Select a county from the dropdown menu to learn about your local jail.
The complete findings from our latest survey are available in a spreadsheet here.
Bringing transparency to the closed world of local prisons
The Covid-19 pandemic laid bare the lack of publicly available information about prisons, especially local jails. To help meet this need, the Prison Society launched our first interactive map at the height of the pandemic, the only tool that brought Covid-19 data about all of Pennsylvania’s 85 prisons and jails together in one place.
The new interactive map is the next generation of our effort to bring more transparency to the correctional system. It allows family members, journalists, policymakers, and interested citizens to access information on jail populations, staffing levels, in-person visiting, medical copays, and more. This tool empowers people to learn about a part of their local communities that is largely hidden from public view.
Staffing challenges continue
In addition to 19 jails that reported staffing shortages of 10% or more, 5 jails reported deficits greater than 25%. This picture hasn’t changed much since last year–with one caveat. Several prisons have reduced their security staff complement since the last survey even as their incarcerated populations stayed the same. As a result, they reported lower vacancy rates despite little or no progress in hiring. Greene County Prison, for example, went from 15% to 5% vacancy despite losing three staff members, because it had reduced its staff complement by nearly one-quarter. This trend suggests that the unmet need for corrections officers may be worse than the survey data reflect.
There was one bright spot. Carbon County reported hiring 27 more full-time corrections officers since the last survey, going from 11% vacancy to being fully staffed.
No relief from the heat
As climate change has made extreme heat more common in Pennsylvania, our prisons and jails have been slow to adapt, posing risks to the health of incarcerated people. In this survey round, we collected data on air conditioning in county jails for the first time. Bradford, Lancaster, McKean, Northampton, and Tioga counties reported having housing units that are not air conditioned, leaving incarcerated people exposed to scorching summer heatwaves. Excessive heat is associated with an increase in prison deaths from all causes, including suicide and heart disease. A recent study found that deaths from all causes increase 7.4% and suicides increase 15% after a three-day heat wave.
Access to fresh air not a given
This was also the first time we asked about outdoor access, an issue that came to the fore last fall after Chester County Prison considered plans to fully enclose the jail’s outdoor exercise yard following the escape of Danilo Cavalcante. The nine counties that reported not having outdoor exercise yards were Carbon, Crawford, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Indiana, Lancaster, Mifflin, and Perry. As we noted while covering Chester County’s plans, The American Correctional Association’s Standards for correctional institutions require access to both outdoor and indoor or covered exercise yards. Research shows that spending time outdoors can reduce anxiety and help people cope with stressors. It is especially important for incarcerated people, given their high rate of mental illness and exposure to the variety of stressors in the prison environment.
