NCJ Number
98102
Journal
Prison Journal Volume: 65 Issue: 1 Dated: (Spring-Summer 1985) Pages: 64-72
Date Published
1985
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This article reviews the court actions related to the Jackson v. Hendrick case, which is challenging unconstitutional overcrowding and related conditions in the Philadelphia County prison system, and examines problems regarding enforcement of court orders requiring reduction in the Philadelphia prison population.
Abstract
The Jackson case is noted to be entering its 14th year of litigation, as the court is now faced with the difficult problem of how to effect its order that the prison system not exceed its capacity. The historical landmarks in the case are traced, issuing in the 1976 decision of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that the populations of the prisons could not exceed rated capacity, based on a one person-one cell principle. The city's response to the court order and consent decrees pertaining to virtually every area of prison life is indicated to have been obstructive, until in 1977 the court held the defendants in contempt of court and fined the city $325,000. Substantial progress in improving prison conditions is reported for the next several years, and inmate population levels did not greatly increase. Beginning in 1980, however, the inmate population is indicated to have dramatically increased, with the city making no effort to contain the increase or provide new cells. The city is then noted to have used various legal ploys to gain time without paying any penalty for its obstructionist tactics. The article speculates that judges are currently reluctant to resist the public's apparent desire for increased incarceration by enforcing 'cap' or release orders. The author argues that prison space should be treated as a scarce resource to be used only for dangerous offenders, since its current excessive use is both inhumane and financially costly. A four-item bibliography is provided.