Held in contempt over jail conditions, Philly must pay $25M and quickly boost staffing, a judge has ordered
The Philadelphia Inquirer, 08/18/24: “A federal judge has ordered the city of Philadelphia to pay $25 million into a dedicated fund and to take urgent action to address staffing shortages at the city’s jails.
The order, issued Friday, came a month after U.S. District Judge Gerald A. McHugh found the city in contempt of its 2022 settlement agreement in a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of incarcerated people over inhumane conditions at the jails.
McHugh ordered the city to rapidly ramp up staff recruiting and retention efforts, and offer double pay to fill vacant shifts, as the jails are about 45% below a full staffing complement. As a result of those shortages, incarcerated people have been frequently locked in their cells for days on end and contraband has flowed freely, leading to drug overdoses and serious injuries with homemade weapons.
In addition, McHugh said the city must immediately explore moving some prisoners to facilities outside the city’s main jail complex in Northeast Philadelphia.
He also ordered criminal justice leaders to analyze whether low-risk, medically vulnerable prisoners could be released. A population reduction of some 500 prisoners would enable the city to close its oldest jail, the Detention Center, which would greatly ease the demands on staff, lawyers said at the contempt hearing in July.
Instead, the jail population in recent weeks has surged to its highest level in three years — around 4,800 people — stretching even further past staff capacity, and raising alarms among some city officials.
A string of violent incidents followed, according to internal records obtained by The Inquirer.”