$25 Million Contempt Fine Prompts Release of Pretrial Detainees from Philadelphia Lockups
The Philadelphia Department of Prisons (PDP) announced the release of 100 pretrial detainees on November 5, 2024. The detainees, all held on bail they couldn’t pay, were released during a series of emergency bail hearings that began on October 1, 2024, according to the Defender Association of Philadelphia (DAP), which provides legal representation to indigent detainees held in city prisons and jails.
The releases represented only a little over 2% of PDP’s incarcerated population, currently estimated at 4,600—about 15% higher than the low point reached during the COVID-19 pandemic. Andrew Pappas, managing director of pretrial services for the city Public Defender’s Office, said that those released had been held on cash bail without other detainers; they faced charges ranging from aggravated assault to weapons violations and arson. As he explained, attorneys in his office asked judges to “[t]ake a second look at them and see if they really needed to be in custody in light of the fact that the prison [system] is a disaster right now.”
How much of a disaster was revealed in a class-action lawsuit settlement reached in April 2022. As PLN reported, that agreement obligated PDP immediately to reach full staffing—especially of guard positions necessary to provide prisoners and detainees access to needed healthcare, recreation and programming. [See: PLN, Aug. 2022, p.1.] Unsurprisingly, that didn’t happen; as of June 2024, PDP reported that only 58% of staff positions were filled. Meanwhile the average length of incarceration for pretrial detainees—who represent nearly 90% of PDP’s total population—ballooned to 113 days.
As a result, lawyers from the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PILP) representing Plaintiffs in the class-action suit asked the federal court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to find the City in contempt of its order approving the settlement agreement. The Court granted that motion on July 12, 2024, and on August 16, 2024, ordered the City to pay a fine of $25 million—an amount roughly equal to what PDP had saved on its unfilled staff positions.
The latter order also included specific deadlines to be met in remedying the staffing crisis, including hiring an outside recruitment firm to fill the empty slots permanently and offer double-time pay to put staffers in them in the meantime. PDP was further ordered to institute a Wellness Program for employees and provide analysis of their compensation to the Monitor appointed by the Court to oversee the case. As of her latest report on September 30, 2024, Monitor Cathleen Beltz found PDP substantially compliant in very few of the agreement’s requirements, mostly related to its pandemic response. See: Remick v. City of Phila., USDC (E.D. Pa.), Case No. 2:20-cv-01959.
DAP Director of Prison Advocacy Thomas Innes likened PDP lockups to a “series of pressure cookers that are about to spill over at any given time.” His colleague, DAP Chief Defender Keisha Hudson, called the releases “a crucial step in safeguarding both the rights of the incarcerated and the efficiency of our justice system.”
Additional sources: Axios, Philadelphia Inquirer, WCAU