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Recognizing the accomplishments and the collaborative efforts of Philadelphia’s criminal justice partners for successfully reducing the local jail population by almost 20% since July of 2015 with the implementation of programs under the MacArthur Foundation’s Safety and Justice Challenge.
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WHEREAS, The MacArthur Foundation’s Safety and Justice Challenge has fostered an unprecedented level of collaboration between the City’s criminal justice partners: The Managing Director’s Office of Criminal Justice, the Philadelphia Police Department, the Philadelphia Department of Prisons, the Department of Behavioral Health, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, the Defender Association of Philadelphia, and the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania’s Municipal Court, Court of Common Pleas, Adult Probation and Parole Department, and Pretrial Services. These partners have built upon the strong collaboration of the Criminal Justice Advisory Board, who oversees the reform effort; and
WHEREAS, In May of 2015, Philadelphia’s criminal justice partners began its participation in a 7-month planning phase to develop the 6 strategies and 19 different programs in its reform plan. The goal was to reduce the local jail population by 34% over a three year period; and
WHEREAS, In May 2016, the City of Philadelphia was awarded a $3.5 million-dollar grant from the MacArthur Foundation to implement the reforms. This award provides two years of funding for a three-year project timeline to support the strategies outlined in the Philadelphia Reform Plan; and
WHEREAS, The Philadelphia Reform Plan focused on reducing incarceration for pretrial defendants, creating efficiencies in case processing, addressing probation violations, reducing the racial and ethnic disparities that exist in the criminal justice system, addressing the needs of special populations, and improving the cross system data capacity; and
WHEREAS, The criminal justice partners met weekly during the planning phase to design creative solutions based on data to address the City’s jail overcrowding problems; and
WHEREAS, The plan targeted three major drivers of the jail population: over-incarceration of pretrial defendants, the lengthy case process, and the incarceration of people who violate the terms of their community supervision; and
WHEREAS, In July of 2015, there were 8,082 individuals incarcerated in Philadelphia’s six jail facilities. As of the end of May 2017, the number of individuals incarcerated reduced to 6,604. This is an 18.3 percent reduction in incarcerated individuals; and
WHEREAS, Within the 18.3% decrease, the largest reduction was amongst the pretrial population; and
WHEREAS, The dedicated commitment of Philadelphia’s Criminal Justice Partners to reduce the jail population has made our City’s justice system more fair, while keeping Philadelphians safe; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That it hereby recognizes the accomplishments and the collaborative efforts of Philadelphia’s criminal justice partners for successfully reducing the local jail population by almost 20% since July of 2015 with the implementation of programs under the MacArthur Foundation’s Safety and Justice Challenge.
FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to Philadelphia’s Criminal Justice Partners as further evidence of the sincere admiration and gratitude of this legislative body.
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