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 more than 4,200 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, more than 135 people have died in Philly’s jails, and more than 50 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.

Prison Oversight Board Advocates Coalition

ALC coordinates the Prison Oversight Board Advocates coalition, made up of 30+ local organizations and community members focused on creating Philly’s first independent Prison Oversight Board to monitor and investigate human rights abuses in Philly’s jails. This group is for and by those who have been incarcerated there.

Our campaign builds collective power to raise awareness and fight to end the abuses, divest funding from jails, and work towards decarceration.

Join ALC’s mailing list or contact sam@alcenter.org to learn more, get involved, and stay updated.

Litigation

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

We’re 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.

In April 2024 ALC and co-counsels filed a motion of contempt and sanctions against the City of Philadelphia for its jails’ failure to comply with the terms that were mandated in the settlement of Remick. The motion seeks relief including daily, non-compliance fines that would be distributed to everyone caged in a Philadelphia jail.

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.

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.