After months of advocating for relief from the deplorable conditions 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 the Philadelphia prisons will resume some in-person friend and family visits with incarcerated people starting next week.

In an unprecedented settlement agreement, the City of Philadelphia (“City”) has 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.

The Allegheny County Jail has agreed to begin administering COVID-19 tests to everyone admitted to the jail before they are moved into general population housing in response to demands from lawyers representing incarcerated persons in a class action lawsuit challenging the jail’s failure to protect them from COVID-19.

The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project, along with All Rise Trial & Appellate, sent a letter to the Federal Bureau of Prisons and officials at Federal Correctional Institution Loretto (FCI Loretto) following a reported “severe outbreak” of COVID-19 at the facility.

The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project sent a letter to the Department of Corrections Chief Counsel TIm Holmes demanding universal testing of staff and incarcerated people at all DOC prisons.

PILP, ALC, and ACLU PA sent a letter to Allegheny County demanding testing and contact tracing of people at ACJ after dozens of guards quarantined. This comes after numerous reports that people in direct contact with a guard who tested positive are symptomatic and being denied tests.

The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project sent an advocacy letter to Dauphin County Prison and the County Commissioners relating to our serious concerns about the prison’s conditions, especially as it relates to COVID-19.

July 1, 2020. The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PILP) and the Lewisburg Prison Project (LPP) sent an advocacy letter to Warden Spaulding at USP Lewisburg after we received a number of reports that people incarcerated at the federal penitentiary are being treated inhumanely and are being housed in deplorable conditions that also do not adequately protect them from COVID-19 transmission, which will likely have a significant impact on their health and safety, as well as prison staff and the community.

Read the full letter here