Philadelphia Jails

Philadelphia’s jails are a human rights crisis. More than 30,000 people cycle in and out of the jails each year, and on any given day, there are thousands of people locked up. Those who are incarcerated — 74% of whom are Black and 90% of whom have not been convicted of a crime  — are being tortured, with no access to basic human rights, including medical care, showers, phone calls, meals, and visits from loved ones.

In the past decade, at least 150 people have died in Philly’s jails, and more than 60 of those deaths have been since 2020 alone — some of the highest rates in the nation.

ALC’s litigation, organizing, and communications arms all contribute to the multi-dimensional effort to dismantle the Philly jail system and protect people who encounter it. We are 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.

Prison Oversight Board Advocates Coalition

Since 2020, ALC has been a key leader in a powerful coalition to create an accountable board to oversee Philadelphia’s county jails (operated by the Philadelphia Department of Prisons). We are thrilled our organizing efforts have resulted in a key win: In May 2025, Philadelphia voters passed a ballot measure approving the city’s first independent Prison Oversight Board to monitor and investigate human rights abuses in the jails.

TIMELINE:

2020–2024: ALC led efforts to build the Prison Oversight Board Advocates coalition, made up of 30+ local organizations plus community members who are collectively building power to raise awareness, end the abuses, divest city funding from jails, and move towards decarceration. 

December 2024: The effort cleared its first major hurdle when the Philly City Council finally agreed to place a new jail oversight board on the May 2025 ballot.

Winter/Spring 2025: ALC mobilized a canvassing team of impacted leaders to talk to thousands of voters across Philadelphia in areas most impacted by jails and prisons. 

May 2025: 77% of Philadelphia voters voted YES on the ballot question to create the jail oversight board.

Currently, ALC and other coalition members are engaged in negotiations with the city regarding how the prison oversight board and office will operate and what powers they will have. We are pushing for the board to be as powerful and independent as possible, while helping prepare communities most impacted by incarceration to use the board as a tool to protect themselves and loved ones inside of Philly’s jails. 

To help with local efforts on the ground in Philadelphia, sign up here. To get updates on the overall effort join ALC’s general mailing list.

Litigation

ALC is currently engaged in legal action aimed at the Philadelphia jails via several significant cases.

In October 2024 ALC filed Jacob and James Jung v. City of Philadelphia. The petitioners are suing over the wrongful death of their father, Louis Jung Jr., while in pretrial detention. The Philadelphia Dept. of Prisons (PDP)’s repeated failures to provide Mr. Jung with medical management of his Type 1 diabetes led to his preventable death from diabetic ketoacidosis.

ALC is also co-counsel to Remick et. Al. v. City of Philadelphia, a federal civil rights, class action lawsuit filed in April 2020, addressing atrocious, life-threatening conditions in the Philadelphia jails during and since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The lawsuit was brought on behalf of all people who were incarcerated in the City of Philadelphia jails at the time, and sought to protect them from conditions that would increase the likelihood that they would contract and become severely ill from COVID-19.

The scope of the lawsuit subsequently expanded to address a range of dire jail conditions, including insufficient out-of-cell time, delays in the provision of medical care, excessive force by corrections officers, violence among incarcerated people, and insufficient access to legal counsel and the courts.

In April 2022, a settlement was reached with the City of Philadelphia, designed to immediately address and improve conditions for people incarcerated in Philly’s Jails. Since that time ALC has been engaged in extensive work that will be ongoing for some time, to monitor and enforce compliance with the terms of the settlement.

Community Organizing and Public Awareness Campaigns

ALC, in coalition with other movement partners and impacted community members, regularly organizes rallies, informational town halls, speak-outs, press events, media coverage, and other activities, all designed to bring awareness, public pressure, and engagement to the efforts to decarcerate Philadelphia’s jails, and protect those who remain trapped within them.