Title
Calling on the Pennsylvania General Assembly to pass comprehensive legislation providing sustainable relief to an overburdened system and to protect children held at the Philadelphia Juvenile Justice Services Center by recognizing time spent as time served.
Body
WHEREAS, The Philadelphia Juvenile Justice Services Center (PJJSC) is a temporary holding facility for youth accused of crimes in Philadelphia. The PJJSC opened in December of 2012, and was designed to provide youth being held at the request of the Courts with a variety of services like education, individual and group counseling, social services, medical services, and recreational programming. While a noble goal, Philadelphia's crime epidemic has caused extreme overcrowding issues that have caused dire consequences; and
WHEREAS, While issues with the PJJSC have been well documented, things have only been exacerbated by overcrowding since the COVID-19 pandemic. In October of 2022, 20 PJJSC staffers were injured trying to break-up a fight between two youth being held; and
WHEREAS, In 2022, City Council unanimously passed Resolution No. 220853 which urged the Philadelphia Law Department to file a lawsuit against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in an effort to have youth moved to state custody. When a young person is adjudicated delinquent and sentenced to state custody, the Commonwealth is obligated to pick up those children. In November of 2022, The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ordered that the Department of Human Services move 15 youth to state custody, and in July, they were ordered to remove 26 more. But, throughout the year, the PJJSC with its 184 person capacity has seen levels of youth reaching 230 in June; and
WHEREAS, In October of 2023, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported disturbing and vile conditions that young people living in the PJJSC are subjected to. Many of the young people are being held on probation or house arrest violations, and as a result they have missed out on crit...
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