REMICK v. CITY OF PHILADELPHIA

In April 2020, ten people incarcerated in facilities in the Philadelphia Department of Prisons (PDP) filed a federal civil rights class-action lawsuit against the city and the department over the conditions of the city’s jails.

The lawsuit is brought on behalf of all people incarcerated in the City of Philadelphia jails. It seeks to protect them from jail conditions that would increase the likelihood that they will contract the novel coronavirus and become severely sick from COVID-19. People who are incarcerated and detained are entitled to safe and humane conditions, including protection from COVID-19, based on the Eighth Amendment’s right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, the Fourteenth Amendment’s right to due process, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. The scope of the lawsuit has since 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.

The lawsuit, Remick et al. v. City of Philadelphia, 20-cv-1959, was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The plaintiffs are represented by the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project; Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing, Feinberg & Lin LLP; Abolitionist Law Center; and Dechert LLP.

UPDATES

October 2024

The court monitor issued their fifth report on October 1, 2024. Read a summary of the report here.

August 2024

A federal judge ordered the city of Philadelphia to pay $25 million into a dedicated fund and to take urgent action to address staffing shortages at the city’s jails. The order came a month after a federal judge found the city in contempt of its 2022 settlement agreement in a class-action lawsuit filed over "horrendous" conditions in Philadelphia jails. Read the report here.

July 2024

A Judge found the city of Philadelphia in contempt of its Order. Following two formal hearings, the judge noted there was clear and convincing evidence that the City and Commissioner of Prisons were not in compliance with respect to at least two core issues addressed by the Settlement Agreement—staffing levels and out-of-cell time. Read the order here.

April 2024

After the release of the Court Monitor’s fourth report, plaintiffs filed a motion for contempt for the jails’ failures to comply with a court-monitored settlement Agreement that has led to trauma and suffering for those incarcerated in the Philadelphia jails. Read a summary of the report here. Read the press release announcing the motion for contempt.

October 2023

The Court Monitor issued her third report on October 12, 2023. The report again includes dire descriptions of the staffing crisis, out-of-cell time, segregation units, and use of force practices, among other things. For example, the Court Monitor states that “the trauma experienced by [people incarcerated in the Philadelphia Department of Prisons] is profound and clearly observable to all who work in, enter, or reside in PDP facilities.” (Report at p. 3) The Remick legal team has written a summary and key points from the Monitor’s Third Report.

March 2023

The Court Monitor issued her second report on March 3, 2023.  The report includes severe descriptions of the staffing crisis, out-of-cell time, segregation units, and use of force practices, among other things. The Remick legal team has written a summary and key points from the Monitor’s second report.

November 2022

After the settlement was approved by the Court, a Court Monitor was selected.  The Court Monitor convened a Monitoring Team to evaluate the Defendants’ progress in implementing the changes required in the settlement agreement and began meeting with different stakeholders.  The Court Monitor issued her first report on November 4, 2022.  The Remick legal team has also written a summary and key points from the Monitor’s report.

April 2022
After two years of advocating for relief from the deplorable conditions of confinement in the Philadelphia jails in the case Remick v. Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PILP), Kairys Rudovsky Messing Feinberg and Lin, Abolitionist Law Center, and Dechert LLP announce that they have reached a class action settlement with the City of Philadelphia designed to immediately address and improve those conditions for people incarcerated in the Philadelphia Department of Prisons. U.S. District Court Judge Berle M. Schiller, the federal judge who oversaw the Remick case, issued an order granting preliminary approval of the global settlement agreement.

January 2022
PILP filed an amended complaint to add additional plaintiffs and filed a motion for a preliminary injunction.

November 2021
Following a court order, the City announced a plan to reinstate limited in-person visitation for vaccinated incarcerated individuals.

June 2021
In an unprecedented settlement agreement, the City of Philadelphia agreed to make a one-time payment of $125,000 to the Philadelphia Bail Fund and the Philadelphia Community Bail Fund, to resolve violations of Court Orders requiring out-of-cell time for people incarcerated in Philadelphia Department of Prisons facilities.

May 2021
After learning that PDP was not complying with the agreements laid out in the consent order with regard to out-of-cell time, PILP filed a motion of Contempt. A federal judge granted the motion and ordered Philly jails to prove they're letting people out of their cells at least three hours a day. Otherwise, pay a fine of $10,000 a day to the Philadelphia Bail Fund. The ruling stipulates that the fine will double every two weeks until the city complies.

June 2020
A federal judge approved a consent order on a partial settlement agreement. The consent order required the Philadelphia Department of Prisons to increase access to hygiene products and implement procedures that have been scientifically demonstrated to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Namely, all incarcerated people will now be provided with free soap, clean towels, and the opportunity to shower daily. Additionally, the city committed to providing cleaning products and equipment, providing every incarcerated person with four facemasks, and requiring all staff who work in the prisons to wear facemasks.

PRESS RELEASES

LEGAL DOCUMENTS