Philly’s juvenile jail ‘is in crisis,’ city says, and conditions will cause ‘serious harm’ to kids if unaddressed

The number of young people detained at Philadelphia’s juvenile jail has reached “unprecedented levels,” with more than 30 children sleeping on floors and living amid conditions that will cause “serious harm” if unaddressed, the City of Philadelphia said in a recent court filing as part of its ongoing lawsuit against the state.

Philadelphia’s Juvenile Justice Center — a city-run facility intended to temporarily hold children ages 10 to 17 waiting for their cases to be heard — has become dangerously overcrowded and understaffed, and is holding more than 50 children over its licensed capacity, according to a petition filed by the city last week. At least 30 kids are sleeping on mattresses on the floors of the center’s admissions office and gymnasium. More young people are getting into fights and building makeshift weapons to protect themselves.

It is so understaffed that children cannot receive non-emergency medical care outside the facility. On rare occasions, kids may be fed only two meals per day, and are often forced to stay in their units — some of which are windowless — all day, sometimes with no schooling, according to two groups supporting young people inside.

Without the court’s intervention, the children and staff at the center “will continue to suffer serious harm and face the risk of even greater harm,” the city said in its petition.

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These are the latest details shared in the city’s ongoing lawsuit against the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, part of a yearslong battle between the city and officials from Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration. In October, the city sued the agency in Commonwealth Court to try to force it to take custody of dozens of children, many of whom have been sentenced to rehabilitation in state-run facilities, but “have been stranded for months” awaiting placement. In response, a judge in November ordered the state take custody of 15 children at the city’s facility.

Last week, the city filed a petition asking the court to intervene again. Conditions continue to deteriorate, the city said, and the facility is “far more overcrowded” than when it filed the lawsuit in the fall.

A spokesperson for the city said all children receive three meals a day, plus a snack, and it is not aware of any children missing meals. Young people also receive regular school instruction, she said.

As of earlier this month, 67 of the 230 young people at the facility were awaiting placement, according to the city. Some children who’ve been adjudicated delinquent — the juvenile court term similar to being convicted — have waited more than six months for placement. They do not get credit for their time served at the city detention center, and the delays sometimes double their time incarcerated.

The city has asked the court to force the state to prioritize placements for young people from over-capacity facilities, like Philadelphia’s; increase the staff-to-youth ratio at state facilities so more young people can be moved there; and direct the state to take custody of two children per day, as was done in the fall after the lawsuit was filed.

In response to the petition, state DHS said the issues are multi-faceted and complex, and could be solved locally if city departments and offices — including the District Attorney’s Office, Defender’s Association, juvenile court judges, and probation officials — worked together to resolve outstanding cases or change kids’ sentences.

The state said that, since the injunction hearing in the fall, DHS has admitted over 107 adjudicated young people from Philadelphia to its four youth development centers, which are currently operating at 110% capacity. The state says the city is asking it to “abandon its safety and treatment protocols” and admit Philadelphia youth “at the expense of others from across the Commonwealth.”

This would create “unsafe and dangerous conditions” for youth and staff at the centers, and more staff would likely resign, further decreasing capacity, the state wrote.

“The City’s myopic request is not a solution. Instead, it would create cascading harm that would ultimately negatively impact the City, the youth DHS serves, and the Commonwealth’s juvenile justice system,” DHS wrote.

The state also contracts with private facilities to treat young people, including one in Texas called Rite of Passage. Philadelphia’s courts have so far ordered four children to go there, the state said — and it has up to 20 beds available. But city officials have shared serious reservations about sending kids to the facility, which they said has a history of using disciplinary tactics including days-long isolation, mechanical restraints, and strip searches.

Philadelphia’s juvenile justice groups say it’s the latest example of city and state officials pointing fingers at one another, rather than taking action to fix an untenable situation causing lasting harm to children. The groups said the city needs to come up with local, community-based solutions to support the children, rather than asking officials to ship them across the state.

“It’s tragic and ridiculous,” said Marsha Levick, chief legal officer at the Juvenile Law Center, which filed an amicus brief in the case on Tuesday. “They’re receiving no services, no rehabilitative programming.”

Kendra Van de Water and James Aye, co-founders of YEAH Philly, which works with young people in the criminal justice system, said kids — many of whom may have their cases dropped — are living in solitary confinement-like conditions.

Aye said that one 19-year-old in the center, who had suffered a brain injury, broken jaw, skull fracture, and broken ribs before arriving, was not able to get help for his severe pain for two weeks because of the staffing shortage, even as he felt faint. Because there was not enough staff to puree his food to drink through a straw, he was often forced to skip meals, Aye said. The young man has since been transferred out of the center to a state facility, but there’s been little transparency on his condition and case, Aye said.

Sheila Simmons, a spokesperson for the city’s Office of Children and Families, said because of confidentiality laws, she is unable to comment on the circumstances or care of youth in the facility.

But she said the office is “not aware of any youth missing any meals.”

She said children receive academic instruction, and if they cannot be safely delivered to the learning area, “then teachers are brought to the unit, where students also have access to white boards and virtual instruction.”

Simmons said city stakeholders have convened regularly over the last year to address the placement crisis, and will continue to collaborate on solutions.

“Our pleadings speak for themselves,” she said.

The city has hired more people at the juvenile jail, including hiring 50 new personnel since late November, according to the petition. But in that same period, 26 employees, 10 of which were new hires, have resigned.

“There are not sufficient staff to take youth out of the facility for non-emergent medical appointments,” the city said.

Van de Water said the lawsuit is the city’s way of shuffling blame, and that conditions in the facility have long been untenable.

“It’s been the same cycle,” said Van de Water. “We keep doing this, ‘Oh I’m going to file a lawsuit for the overcrowding,’ but nothing changes.”

While the JJSC holds some young people who’ve been charged with serious violent crimes, including homicides — and who are generally not eligible for alternative detention programs — others may be eligible for alternatives like GPS tracking, house arrest, and diversion programs. But the decision to move a child to one of those programs lies in the hands of the Family Court judges, who oversee juvenile cases and have far-reaching discretion on kids’ placement.

Levick called on the judges to stop sending children to the detention center for non-violent offenses at a time when it’s so crowded.

“The judges have the ability in Philadelphia to continuously review placements and bear some responsibility for putting so many kids in there,” Levick said. “They continue to fill the facility. They need to play a role in emptying the facility.”

Van de Water said the city’s Department of Human Services needs to step up.

“They need to be working together to actually invest in services that support young people,” she said. “They have no opportunities through probation, they have no opportunities when they’re on house arrest. ... They’re not employed, they don’t have vital skills, they don’t have anything.”

“Otherwise,” she said, “they’ll continue to cycle in and out.”