Update

The Prison Society provided testimony in Philadelphia City Council on Tuesday in support of a new prison oversight board that would bring more transparency and accountability to the city’s jails.

The testimony came on the heels of the Prison Society’s latest monitoring report of Philadelphia prisons, which found minimal improvement to problems we have documented over the past three years.

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Two critical components to oversight

Addressing City Council, our executive director, Claire Shubik-Richards, gave the Prison Society’s full-throated endorsement of an amendment to the city’s charter that would create a new Philadelphia Prison Community Oversight Board. She noted how the board would “add two critical components to oversight in Philadelphia.”

First, it would create regular public hearings where community members can directly address concerns to prison administrators. Second, it would require regular reporting on and investigation into problems that may point to systemic issues, such as deaths, assaults, and the use of force by corrections officers.

“There are no other citizens for which the city has a higher duty, than the citizens the city has complete and total control over,” Claire said.

But she stressed that the oversight board proposal, which would be put before voters next spring, would not resolve the crisis in Philadelphia’s jails.

“Only the political will of Council, the First Judicial District, the Mayor, the Commissioner, and other criminal legal stakeholders can end this ongoing tragedy,” she said.

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The crisis in city jails persists

Our August walkthrough of Philadelphia’s oldest jail facility, the Detention Center, showed that many chronic issues persist, amid some minor improvements.

Some repairs had been made to the decrepit facility, and air conditioning had been installed in one of the three housing units we toured. Still, we observed mold, rust, standing water, and a leaky ceiling, and the two dormitory units we visited were uncomfortably hot with outdoor temperatures in the mid-80s.

Prison Society staff and volunteers conducted structured interviews with 97 incarcerated men across three housing units. Nearly everyone we asked reported that they weren’t allowed out of their cells or dormitories on a daily basis. Some people reported that, until just before our visit, they hadn’t been let outdoors in weeks or months.

Two-thirds of incarcerated men we asked about access to medical care reported having to wait more than a week to be seen. More than three-quarters reported that there were non-functioning phones on their unit, with many believing staff shut them off as a punishment. Staff members we spoke with denied the claim, saying the phones are only disconnected during headcounts.

In addition, everyone we asked about prison food service reported not getting enough to eat, and that they regularly go hungry.

Philadelphia Department of Prisons Commissioner Michael Resnick disputed some of these findings. In direct contradiction of what incarcerated people reported, he claimed that those housed in cells get an average of over 10 hours of out-of-cell time per day, and contended that out-of-cell time did not apply to men in the group dormitories, who have access to phones, showers, and TV all day. Access to the outdoor yard and the gym for recreation had been restricted due to a “perimeter fence project” that has since been completed, he said. Now, residents of the three housing units are provided two hours per day of outdoor or indoor recreation time, Resnick asserted.

In response to the finding of extended wait times for medical care, Resnick said that a full-time “sick-call nurse” had recently been assigned to the Detention Center to help address the issue. He also stated that all phones are “in-service” and stood by the jail’s food service, saying that meals are prepared to meet USDA Dietary Guidelines and inspected regularly.

In order to resolve the crisis in Philadelphia’s jails, the city must increase staffing and reduce the number of people it incarcerates. Resnick reported modest progress on both fronts. We were pleased to hear that 50 people have been released in the past two weeks in a coordinated effort between the prison system, the public defender’s office, and the District Attorney. 

But there is much more work to be done. The Prison Society looks forward to continuing to partner with the city to resolve this crisis.