Legal News

Philadelphia Prison System, Following National Trend, Seeing Reduced Inmate Population: Report

By Brian Harris

By Amaris Elliott-Engel
Of the Legal Staff

Just as the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics reported the first drop in decades of average daily jail populations in large jurisdictions, the Philadelphia Prison System saw its number of inmates fall to about 8,000 from a peak of 9,787 inmates in January 2009, according to a report issued today by the Pew Charitable Trusts' Philadelphia Research Initiative.

The 2.3 percent drop in the average daily jail population in large jurisdictions in 2009 defied the growth of jail populations by 30 percent from 1999 to 2008, the report said.

Prior to the recent population change in Philadelphia, the city's jail budget increased 106 percent from 1999 to 2009 as its population grew 49 percent, according to the report. In Allegheny County, jail expenditures grew 19 percent and the jail population grew 49 percent in the same decade.

More drops in Philadelphia's jail population could result from the Philadelphia District Attorney Office's decision to be more selective in the cases the offices prosecute; the office's decision to charge low-level marijuana possession cases as summary offenses instead of misdemeanors; and the First Judicial District's efforts to reduce the time it takes to get violation of probation cases heard by judges, the report said. 

Full post as published by The Legal Intelligencer Blog on November 18, 2010 (boomark / email).