Philadelphia Jail Population Reaches 33-Year Low — A Major Win for Decarceration and Justice Reform

The Abolitionist Law Center is proud to have played a critical role in achieving a historic milestone: the Philadelphia Department of Prisons’ population has dropped to 3,310 as of June 2025—the lowest it has been in over 33 years, and 1,300 fewer people than this time last summer. This is not just a numerical achievement—it is the result of years of legal advocacy, sustained pressure, and tireless community organizing.

This moment also builds directly on a federal class action lawsuit, Remick vs. City of Philadelphia, 2:20-cv-1959, which was brought by incarcerated people in April 2020 to address inhumane conditions inside PDP. ALC joined this litigation in the fall of 2021, and is proud to serve as plaintiffs’ counsel alongside the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project, Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing, Feinberg & Lin LLP, and Dechert LLP. Although Remick was settled via an agreement with the City in 2022, the agreement itself included benchmarks for PDP to meet, and included a provision for an independent Monitor who would produce public written reports on PDP’s efforts to comply with the agreement. When the City violated the terms of that agreement, Remick plaintiffs’ counsel filed a motion to hold the City in contempt.  The judge found the City in contempt and subsequently issued a sanctions order requiring the City to set aside $25 million to address the crisis in the jails. That order also compelled the City to share data with the District Attorney, the Defender Association of Philadelphia, and the First Judicial District. That information became the foundation for targeted interventions within the courts, including emergency bail hearings and case reviews, and it has safely reduced incarceration. The court-appointed monitor in Remick has further ensured that the City could no longer ignore years of inaction.

Our legal strategy is inspired and powered by years of grassroots organizing. Our organizing team has held public rallies at City Hall and outside jail facilities, mobilized families and impacted people to share their stories, and elevated the crisis of jail deaths through media advocacy and public pressure. For example, the tragic and preventable death of Louis Jung Jr., a beloved father who died in PDP custody after being denied insulin in 2023, underscored the lethal consequences of medical neglect behind bars. Today, our legal team represents his family in a lawsuit, Jung v. City of Philadelphia, in demanding accountability and justice for Louis. This case, alongside others, has galvanized further scrutiny and fueled demands for systemic change. 

This sustained organizing has also brought major policy victories. Since 2020, ALC has helped lead a coalition—including formerly incarcerated leaders—to establish the City’s first-ever independent Prison Oversight Board. Following years of pressure and coalition-building, Philadelphia voters overwhelmingly approved the creation of the Board in May 2025. ALC is now actively negotiating to ensure the Board has the strongest possible powers and that impacted communities are equipped to use it as a tool for protection, oversight, and justice. 

For years, we have worked to make decarceration not only necessary, but inevitable—shifting public narratives, exposing dangerous jail conditions, holding rallies and vigils, and advocating for a city budget that invests in care, not cages. Today’s numbers reflect that strategic, unrelenting effort. This is what systemic change looks like: more than 1,300 people freed, more resources available to support families and communities, and a city that is finally beginning to move away from mass incarceration. But we know that it’s not enough as long as people continue to remain in cages, as long as people are dying, as long as people aren’t getting the treatment and care that they need and are instead being traumatized. We encourage those in power to continue to push, to continue to advocate for changes.  We’re ready to keep going until every cage is empty.