The Legal Intelligencer Blog

Federal Judge Approves Phila. Jail Overcrowding Settlement

By Amaris Elliott-Engel
Of the Legal Staff

A federal judge has approved the settlement of a class action that alleged the conditions in the Philadelphia Prison System violated the U.S. Constitution and that inmates housed three to a cell did not receive essential services.

U.S. District Judge R. Barclay Surrick of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania gave the final approval to the settlement Aug. 5.

Surrick said that the latest litigation over conditions of confinement in the PPS appears to be breaking with past history.

"If one were to look at the 40-year history of prison litigation involving conditions in the PPS, one could conclude that plaintiffs face no risk in establishing liability," Surrick said. "Consistently over the years, both state and federal courts have taken the city defendants to task for conditions in the PPS that were caused by overcrowding and that failed to pass constitutional muster. Just three years ago, in Bowers v. City of Philadelphia … we concluded after hearing and after a site visit that conditions at PPS related to overcrowding were unconstitutional. However, as discussed above, since that time the city defendants have taken steps to reduce the prison population and to eliminate many of the problems caused by overcrowding. The results have been significant."

According to the Williams v. City of Philadelphia settlement agreement, the policies that have eased prison overcrowding have included consolidating probation and parole hearings in front of one judge, hearing some minor cases and related probation and parole detainers over video conference, and increasing the number of programs that divert low-level defendants into programs without prosecution.

While some courts, including the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, have held that triple celling may not be unconstitutional, Surrick said it was not a "long-term solution" to overcrowding. But the PPS plaintiffs, since they only spent up to 60 days in cells designed for two inmates but housing three inmates, might have had some trouble establishing that the current triple celling practice in the PPS is unconstitutional, Surrick said.

Under the settlement agreement,  the city must provide data to the class counsel on a monthly basis over two years and allow the counsel and their experts to tour PPS facilities in which there is triple celling.

Surrick said it was reasonable for the city to settle the case for $45,000 in attorney fees and costs.

Plaintiffs counsel included Jonathan H. Feinberg and David Rudovsky of Kairys Rudovsky Messing & Feinberg, David Richman of Pepper Hamilton, Angus Love and Su Ming Yeh of the Pennsylvania  Institutional Law Project, and Robert Meek of the Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania.

Amaris Elliott-Engel is a reporter for The Legal. She can be contacted at 215-557-2354 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @AmarisTLI.

Fresh Ink - Inside Today's Legal

By Jaime Bochet
Of the Legal Staff

Welcome to your daily round-up of stories in today's edition of The Legal Intelligencer. Click the links below to access stories directly, or head to The Legal homepage. (Some stories may require registration or a paid subscription.)

Uncle Sam emerged the winner Wednesday in the court battle over 10 extremely valuable gold coins known as "Double Eagles" that were minted in 1933 and discovered 80 years later in a dead man's safe deposit box, U.S. Courthouse Correspondent Shannon P. Duffy writes in our top story. To read the full story, click here.

Below the fold on the front page, Amaris Elliott-Engel reports that several changes to Philadelphia's criminal justice system in 2010 led to a reduction both in the number of defendants detained prior to their trial and the number of inmates in the Philadelphia Prison System, according to a report released Tuesday from the Pew Charitable Trusts Philadelphia Research Initiative.

Our Page 3 story comes courtesy of our affiliate online newsletter, The Delaware Business Court Insider, where reporter Jeff Mordock writes: A group of institutional investors last week amended a derivative suit it filed in the Court of Chancery in March against Rupert Murdoch and other directors of the media conglomerate News Corp. to now include allegations based on the revelations in the News of the World phone hacking scandal.

As always, our People in the News section is on Page 2, and the top stories from our sister publications across the country are on our Page 4 National News page.

On Page 5, our Young Lawyer (YL) Editorial Board takes a light-hearted approach to their July editorial, offering recommendations for films to inspire you when you may find yourself questioning why you became an attorney after a tough day in court, criticism from a partner, a dragging week or endless calls from a difficult client. "Philadelphia" or "My Cousin Vinny," anyone?

Today's Page 7 "Corporate Law" column is by Joseph D. Mancano and Ethan J. Barlieb of Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Boswick & Raspanti: For companies that conduct business overseas, especially in emerging or third-world markets, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and its high-profile, high-dollar settlements are all too familiar. In order to avoid potential FCPA violations, and the associated price tag, companies need to adopt stringent compliance programs and be vigilant for "red flags," or circumstances that place the company on notice of potential violations.

Have questions or comments about today's issue? E-mail me or any of the reporters directly. We hope you'll enjoy today's Legal!

Jaime Bochet is the Magazines & Supplements Editor for The Legal. Follow her on Twitter at @JaimeBochetTLI or e-mail [email protected].

Gillison Speaks of Progress for Prison System

During a presentation to the Philadelphia Bar Association's Criminal Justice Section last week, Philadelphia Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Everett Gillison said the city's prison system wouldn't dominate Mayor Michael Nutter's criminal justice policy-making. But Gillison said that the administration aims to provide leadership for criminal justice stakeholders to evolve from bureaucratic infighting over systemic problems like prison overcrowding to tackling the problems head-on.

Gillison has written bylaws for a Criminal Justice Advisory Board, which is a model used to get criminal justice stakeholders into the same room in other Pennsylvania counties under the behest of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, Gillison said.

"I think this is an exciting time. We are going to be able to go forward," Gillison said.

Gillison said he has been talking to the First Judicial District and District Attorney Lynne Abraham about what criteria could be instituted to divert some inmates out of the city prison system more quickly and ease up on overcrowding.

Gillison noted that of the estimated 9,300 inmates, 60 percent are in jail on a pretrial basis.

Gillison also said that the executive branch has some leverage in its goals because of its budgetary power over the courts, since the state is not funding most court functions despite Pennsylvania Supreme Court decisions ruling otherwise.

For those inmates re-entering society after serving a local or a state prison term, Gillison said retooling the Mayor's Office on Re-entry is important. The best anti-recidivism program for an ex-offender is a job, he said.

Programs that help people get out of jail on a diversionary basis need increased funding, he said. Gillison promised to track what programs work and close out programs that aren't working.

Gillison hopes to roll out an initial global position system inmate-monitoring project by September.

He also said Philadelphia needs a waiver for former inmates convicted of nonviolent crimes to get welfare and other government support services.

He said the backlog of 38,000 outstanding misdemeanor warrants can be tackled with programs like the peaceful surrender program in which clergy will encourage members of their ministry wanted on charges to turn themselves in.

The mayor has also expressed a desire to have three more community courts instituted by the end of his first term, Gillison said.

Gillison said that the roll-out of 205 surveillance cameras by the end of the year – an initiative first started by the Mayor John Street administration -- has been slowed in order to institute data collection from those cameras and figure out the best way to preserve camera footage for at least 30 days to be available to both prosecutors and defense counsel in criminal cases.

Gillison noted that there is a federal lawsuit pending regarding the fees paid by the Philadelphia government to private counsel taking court-appointed criminal cases. Gillison said that he couldn't comment deeply on the matter because of the pending litigation, but he said that Troy Wilson, chair of the criminal justice section, has provided background information to him and that Nutter has instructed him to take a look at the issue.

Gillison, a former public defender, also said he is examining funding parity between the Public Defender and the District Attorney in Philadelphia.

Wilson said in an interview that he takes Gillison at his word that the administration wants to resolve the issue, despite the pending civil lawsuit.

"I think he and the mayor understand the importance and the necessity of quality of court-appointed counsel," Wilson said.

- Amaris Elliott-Engel, Staff Reporter