Federal judge says he will hold Philly’s prison system in contempt of court over its understaffing crisis
The Philadelphia Inquirer, 07/11/24: “A federal judge said Thursday he would rule that Philadelphia’s prison system is in contempt of court for failing to follow an agreement in a long-running lawsuit over conditions in the city jails.
U.S. District Court Judge Gerald A. McHugh acknowledged that the city had taken steps to mitigate a staffing crisis in the jails causing prolonged lockdowns, mounting chaos on housing units, and delays in access to services including medical care. But he said those efforts were insufficient.
McHugh said he would file an order declaring the city in contempt later, and then decide what sanctions to impose on the city at a later date.
The city had committed to address those issues in an April 2022 settlement of a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of the roughly 4,500 people incarcerated, awaiting trial or serving short sentences, in the jail complex on State Road in Northeast Philadelphia. Twice since the lawsuit was filed, at the start of the pandemic in 2020, the city agreed to pay $125,000 to Philadelphia’s nonprofit bail funds to avoid contempt findings.
But now, on two core issues — staffing levels, and the amount of time people incarcerated there can spend outside of their cells — McHugh said that it was ‘virtually undisputed that we don’t have compliance’ with the terms of the agreement.
A monitor appointed by McHugh reported in March that the city had taken “a course of half measures steeped in bureaucratic and political rigidity with devastating consequences” for both prisoners and staff.”