Philly jails plagued with overdoses | Morning Newsletter
And hospitals turn to TV for cash
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The Morning Newsletter
Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter
Good morning. It’s a hot and dry Sunday with a high near 94.
Since 2018, just over two dozen people have died from drug-related deaths in Philadelphia jails, where drugs are widely accessible, according to an Inquirer review of records and data. Our main story explores the conditions inside the critically understaffed facilities and the increase in overdoses, all while the city is poised to lock up more people who are in addiction in Kensington.
— Paola Pérez (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
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The city’s plan to clean up Kensington, the heart of Philadelphia’s open-air drug markets, includes arresting people who use drugs. But with drug intoxication-related deaths on the rise within the jails, it’s unclear if they are in a position to safely house more people in addiction.
Public health reporter Aubrey Whelan teamed up with investigative reporter Samantha Melamed to dig into the deaths and conditions of these jails. They spoke with corrections officers, prisoners, and advocates alike, who all attest to unsafe conditions for medically fragile prisoners with illegal drugs running rampant in the facilities.
The data: Before 2016, Philly jails reported no drug deaths. But since 2018, at least 25 people died in the jails due to overdoses or other drug-related causes, accounting for a third of all deaths in the facilities, according to an Inquirer review of medical examiner’s data and court records.
The scope: Across the country, drug- and alcohol-related deaths in jail have been on the rise. They quadrupled nationwide between 2000 and 2019.
What’s next: Prisons Commissioner Michael Resnick said the jails do not need to prepare for an influx of prisoners from Kensington. “They’ll be going into treatment,” he said. But the jail system’s drug treatment program has a backlog — and the long wait can be dangerous.
Keep reading for a deeper look into the climate of disorder within Philly’s jails
What you should know today
President Joe Biden will attend a predominately Black church in Philadelphia on Sunday morning before traveling to a campaign event in Harrisburg Sunday afternoon. And California Gov. Gavin Newsom was in Doylestown Saturday to motivate Democrats in a speech that lauded Biden’s achievements in his first term, but made little mention of growing concerns over the president’s age and competency.
A woman walking along Frankford Avenue was struck by a car and a SEPTA bus early Saturday morning in Philadelphia’s Wissinoming neighborhood, resulting in her death, authorities said. And in Delaware County, a SEPTA bus driver sustained slash wounds to his face and abdomen Saturday afternoon when he was attacked by a passenger.
A July Fourth gathering in Southwest Philadelphia descended into chaos on Thursday night when a gunman opened fire into a crowd, killing one man and wounding eight others, including four teens. It happened in the district of City Council President Kenyatta Johnson, who said the city must do more to prevent more bloodshed but credits “boots-on-the-ground” work for reducing gun violence overall in the city.
Prosecutors will push to put twice-convicted labor leader John J. Dougherty behind bars for more than a decade at his sentencing hearing this week on bribery and embezzlement charges.
Six people were arrested at a pro-Palestinian protest on July Fourth during which flags were burned and an officer was allegedly assaulted, according to Philadelphia police.
A New Jersey wildfire that broke out Friday morning in the Pinelands, resulting in the closure of a popular campground, has scorched another 2,800 acres, bringing the total involved acres to 4,000. Firefighters have made progress, reporting 65% containment as of Saturday night.
The upheaval continues in the Philadelphia School District with another top deputy resigning after just over a year on the job. Here’s a rundown of what’s happening in the school system, one of the nation’s largest.
Eric Mankin has stepped down as the president of Main Line HealthCare, the primary-care network of the health system serving Philadelphia’s western suburbs.
A seven-story, 55-unit apartment building proposed for 1520-30 Washington Ave. renewed a long-standing debate over preservation of the past on the once industrially dominated South Philadelphia boulevard.
The Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site will close Monday for fire-safety renovations and is expected to reopen this fall.
Hosts at WIP-FM (94.1) have largely remained silent about the allegations surrounding Howard Eskin, and that isn’t sitting well with Angelo Cataldi.
It’s an unlikely couple ... but it’s a match made in Hollywood.
Financially strapped and understaffed community hospitals in the Philly area are raking in revenue by renting out space to production companies, allowing them to film scenes for movies and TV shows in sections of the hospitals that are no longer in use.
Take Suburban Community Hospital in East Norriton, where several floors are empty due to trends that have endangered small hospitals nationwide. Over four days in February, an Apple TV+ film crew shot scenes in empty parts of that hospital, and next month, an HBO crew plans to film scenes for a new miniseries at Lower Bucks Hospital in Bristol.
Keep reading on how these troubled hospitals try to bounce back with help from the big screen.
❓Pop quiz
A big bird got loose and was spotted wandering around a Bucks County neighborhood on the Fourth of July before being caught and reunited with its owners Friday.
What type of bird was it?
A) cassowary
B) ostrich
C) emu
D) peacock
Think you know? Check your answer.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram
The Sixers reportedly finalized a multiyear, free-agent contract for $32 million with this player on Saturday.
Hint: 🔥
ABC TERMINAL
Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Peg Bogart who correctly guessed Wednesday’s answer: Taco Bell. A “cantina” version of this chain will open in Rittenhouse Square this year — possibly with booze.
Photo of the day
🎶 Today’s Sunday track goes like this: “I keep looking for a brighter day / When all I see is time slipping away.”
Last week, I asked readers to send in their picks for the song of the summer. Debra Olsen shared “Swimming in the Pool” by Carsie Blanton, and John Shiffert went with John Mellencamp’s rendition of “Under the Boardwalk.”
👋🏽 We covered a lot of ground, so I want to thank you for catching up on the news with me. Take care out there.