PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — City Council members wanted to explore closing the Detention Center, the city’s oldest prison facility, at a hearing on Tuesday, but the prisons commissioner, appointed last year, testified that it’s not going to happen.
Prisons Commissioner Michael Resnick opened his testimony, noting the population has dropped by more than 20% since July, but still, he said, the Detention Center can not close, because of the make-up of who’s there.
He testified 60% of the city prison population is being held for serious and violent crimes. They are in three of the four jails on State Road. The rest are awaiting trial on less serious offenses. They are housed separately—in the Detention Center.
“The majority of our population are those inmates with more serious or violent charges. Good correctional practice prohibits us from housing closed-custody inmates with those who are minimum-, medium- or even community-custody,” Resnick said.
The commissioner said much has improved at the Detention Center since a 2020 lawsuit alleging dangerous and inhumane conditions there due to inadequate staffing.
“Yes, the Detention Center is old, but it is not inhumane,” he said. “We have dedicated staff who work hard to ensure the conditions are as good as they can be for the population housed there.”
The hearing was prompted in part by a federal court ruling last summer that the prisons remained overcrowded and understaffed. But Resnick said new data coming out at the end of March will show the population has dropped since then and staffing has increased.
“We have worked very hard to increase and maintain our staff, and the results are positive. Since April, we have hired 230 correctional officers,” Resnick said.
He acknowledged many issues remain. There were six in-custody deaths last year. But he and others testified more support is needed throughout the system, including before someone is ever arrested.
“Our system is sort of the social service of last resort, right? People come to the prison system because the education system, the medical system, the mental health system, housing, have failed them,” he said.