Title
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.
Body
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;...
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