►
Description
Meeting of Council's Committee of the Whole to hear testimony on the following bills/resolutions: Bill Nos. 160170, 160171, and 160172 & Resolution No. 160180 regarding the FY2017 Capital Budget.
Testimony from:
Michael Resnick, Acting Prisons Commissioner, Robert Tomaszewski
Deputy Prisons Commissioner; Blanche Carney, current Deputy Prisons Commissioner and incoming Prison Commissioner.
http://phlcouncil.com/FY17-council-budget-center
A
Department
is
two
prisons,
and,
while
Commissioner
Resnick
is
coming
up,
I
was
asked
to
just
make
note
I
know
we're
very
tight
on
time
with
the
prisons,
because
I
have
another
commitment,
because
we
are
running
late
here
so
just
to
let
all
the
members
know
we
are
trying
to
do
this
as
quickly
as
possible.
Do
you
want?
A
A
D
C
Afternoon
mr.
chair
I'm,
Michael
Resnick
I'm,
the
acting
commissioner
of
the
philadelphia
prison
system
joining
me
today.
Our
deputy
commissioners,
thomashefsky
bryant
and
Kearney,
along
with
our
chief
of
medical
operations,
dr.
Bruce
herdmen
and
our
administrative
services
director
Jerry
buck,
and
at
this
time
I'd
just
like
to
acknowledge
that
our
deputy
commissioner
Blanche
Kearney,
has
been
appointed
to
be
the
Commissioner
effective,
May
23rd
on.
C
Good
I'm
pleased
to
provide
testimony
on
the
philadelphia
prison
systems,
fiscal
2017
operating
budget.
The
mission
of
the
prison
system
is
to
provide
a
secure
correctional
environment
that
adequately
detains
persons
accused
or
convicted
of
illegal
acts,
to
provide
programs,
services
and
supervision
in
a
safe,
lawful,
clean
humane
environment
and
to
prepare
incarcerated
persons
for
re-entry
into
society
in
a
frame
of
mind
that
will
facilitate
their
becoming
law.
C
Abiding
citizens
in
the
prison
system
will
support
the
administration's
goal
of
criminal
justice
reform
by
continuing
to
offer
programs
and
services
designed
to
enable
successful
reintegration
of
ex-offenders
into
society.
This
continuity
of
care
starts,
while
individuals
are
incarcerated
and
links
them
to
services
and
supports
when
they
leave
the
prison
system
with
the
ultimate
goal
of
reducing
recidivism
and
decreasing.
The
number
of
incarcerated
individuals
in
Philadelphia
the
Philadelphia
prison
system,
as
the
far
goals
for
fy17
reduce
the
jail
population,
ensure
that
a
hundred
percent
of
inmates
have
a
risk.
C
The
proposed
fiscal
2017
general
fund
budget
totals
two
million
two
hundred
fifty
eight
million
eight
hundred
thirty
one
thousand
six
hundred
and
seventy
dollars.
That's
an
increase
of
4.4
million
over
fiscal
year,
2016
estimated
obligations
and
that
increases
primarily
due
to
our
correctional
officer
contract
arbitration
award,
our
class
two
hundred
contracts,
three
hundred
four
hundred
supplies
and
equipment
and
five
hundred
inmate
work
pay
have
been
held
harmless
from
2016
levels.
That
concludes
my
testimony
and
I'd
be
happy
to
answer
any
questions.
Okay,.
A
A
C
See
from
the
performance
measure
or
the
budget
document
that
the
performance
measure
that
recidivism
rate
has
been
coming
down
since
that's
FY
15
to
16
our
goal
is
to
reduce
it
even
further,
with
our
efforts
and
strategies
under
the
McArthur
program
to
address
the
pretrial
population.
If
we
can
reduce
that
population
and
do
some
of
the
things
on
the
back
end
for
sentenced
folks,
it's
hoped
that
we
are
able
to
reduce
the
people
who
cycle
through
the
prison
system,
lower
that
recidivism
rate
lower
the
crime
rate.
Okay,.
B
C
I,
don't
believe
rumors,
but
when
we
look
at
the
numbers
we
did
an
analysis
with
the
DA's
office.
Earlier
this
year
we
took
a
look
at
all
the
people
who
were
arrested
and
arraigned
with
a
$5,000
bail
from
January
15
to
February
16
and,
as
you
know,
if
you
have
a
$5,000
bail,
you're
required
to
post
ten
percent
or
five
hundred
dollars,
there
were
about
nine
thousand
of
those
people,
total
and
I.
Think
about.
C
B
C
Simple,
simple
average
that
we
we
used
that
I
don't
like
to
use.
Is
you
take
our
average
of
daily
population?
You
divide
it
by
our
budget.
You
get
a
figure
of
what
it
costs
to
house
an
inmate,
very
simple,
very
rudimentary.
Our
intake
popular
our
intake
process
is
the
most
expensive
because
there
you're
getting
physical
health
examination
checks
for
SD,
STDs,
mental
health
evaluation,
social
services,
housing
you
and
intake
housing.
So
there's
a
lot
of
upfront
costs
to
that.
C
C
So
this
is
where
we
can
provide
services,
probation
supervision
to
people
in
a
pretrial
status,
or
we
can
pick
people
who
are
short-term
on
their
sentence
when
their
County
sentences,
let
them
parole
them
early,
get
them
out
of
the
prison
system,
put
them
in
the
community,
where
it's
a
whole
lot
cheaper
to
supervise
them
and
provide
them
with
the
services
that
they
need.
I,.
B
C
E
A
C
Four
hundred
fifty
two
inmates,
approximately
eighty
percent
of
those
individuals,
are
pretrial
detainees.
You
know
that
could
be
anything
from
anybody
with
a
you
know,
a
warrant
out
for
them
for
a
failure
to
appear
to
somebody
who's
accused
of
a
homicide.
So
it
runs
the
gamut,
the
cost
to
house
those
people,
I,
guess
a
very
simplistic
way
of
doing
hits
and
blisters
fine,
a
simplistic
way
of
doing
it
would
say
you
know.
Eighty
percent
of
our
budget
is
spent
housing.
C
E
E
E
Would
appreciate
that
I
see
that
the
organization,
the
Jewish
vocational
services,
jazz
I,
understand,
has
an
80%
success
rate
of
putting
ex-convicts
back
to
work
that
are
out
of
jail
and
has
had
the
same
amount
of
funds
for
for
2015.
I
would
like
to
request
the
consideration
increasing
their
funds,
because
I
don't
see
why,
in
in
in
something
that
is
working
successfully,
that
that
we,
you
know,
with
a
lower
rate
of
recidivism,
that
we
that
we
cut
their
funding.
E
C
B
B
C
That's
a
very
it's
a
simple
question:
with
a
very
complicated
answer:
councilman
we
have
a
very
detailed
matrix
that
we
use
when
the
population
goes
up.
What
areas
are
facilities
we
are
going
to
populate
over
the
years
we've
had
population
challenges
and
we've
used
areas
that
are
not
traditionally
designed
for
housing
as
housing.
We
call
them
temporary
in
emergency
spaces,
so
we
populate
them
on
a
priority
basis,
and
then,
when
the
population
comes
down,
we
reverse
order
and
depopulate
those
areas.
C
So
if
we
are
we're
at
74
52
today,
macarthur
levels
are
about
fifty
five
hundred.
So
it's
about
two
thousand
people
less.
What
we
could
do
is
back
out
of
our
outside
housing
contracts
of
ten
million
dollars.
That's
about
somewhere
south
of
the
thousand
inmates.
Then
we
have
inmates
that
are
in
other
areas
of
our
facilities
that
we
utilize
extra
officers
just
because
these
are
areas
that
were
not
traditionally
designed
to
be
housing
or
we've
increased
the
capacity
of
those
areas
so
to
make
them
more
secure.
We
put
additional
officers
there.
C
We
can
back
out
of
those
areas
and
we
can
reduce
that
that
personnel
expense.
You
know
we
have
about
five
hundred
inmates
triple
cell
in
current
Fromme
hold
but
they're
all
closed
custody
inmates.
We
could
reduce
the
triple
cells
and
the
and
the
number
of
inmates
in
the
in
the
multi
occupancy
rooms.
These
are
rooms
that
were
not
traditionally
designed
to
be
housing,
but
we
were
using
them
as
housing.
We
can
remove
an
officer
from
each
one
of
those
blocks
times.
32
blocks
times
three
shifts.
C
That
would
be
about
five
million
dollars,
so
it
depends
on
where
we
reduce
and
how
we
can
reduce,
and
it
depends
on
the
film
when
the
the
population
being
posed
I'm
sure
you're
aware
not
all
inmates
are
the
same.
They
have
different
classifications,
remove
the
housing
differently
based
upon
the
class
that
here
right
now
it
was
that
five
billion.
C
We
were
able
to
do
that
all
in
one
year.
That
would
be
five
million
in
one
year,
but
it's
unlikely
we'll
be
able
to
do
that
because,
given
what
we're
seeing
in
the
population,
our
population
is
swinging
higher
to
closed
custody.
Maximum
security,
I
guess,
is
a
different
way
of
thinking
about
it
and
we
need
to
house
them.
We
only
have
two
facilities
that
are
that
custody
level.
We
need
to
house
them
and
up
one
of
those
two
facilities,
Thank
You.
Mr.
A
C
D
Thank
You
mr.
chairman,
and
the
gang
congratulations
and
I
think
it's
a
huge
achievement
and
I
know.
You're
gonna
have
a
press
conference
shortly,
so
I'll
be
quick
and
I
want
to
congratulate
the
entire
team.
Don't
want
the
entire
criminal
justice
system.
You
know
talking.
You
know
who
has
been
a
part
of
of
the
McArthur.
You
know,
grant
and
and
process,
and
I
too
want
to
welcome
and
congratulate
Deputy
Commissioner
corny
right
for
your
rise
to
Commissioner
from
within
the
department.
D
I
think
is
it's
critical,
I
believe
to
you
know
for
somebody
to
be
a
commissioner
of
something
you
know
of
a
system
like
the
prison
system.
You
know
rise
through
the
ranks
to
understand
in
every
aspect.
You
know
the
day
to
day
job.
You
know
what
I
want
to
congratulate
you
on
that.
A
couple
things
you
know:
one
I
want
to
start.
You
know
window
gonna
back
Arthur,
you
know
I
know.
Our
district
attorney
has
been
talking
about
being
smart
on
crime.
D
C
C
If
my
math
is
right
and
I
think
that
decrease
is
in,
do
it
due
in
part
to
a
lot
of
the
diversionary
programs
we
see
that
are
taking
place
in
cooperation
with
not
only
the
District
Attorney,
but
the
defenders
Association
in
the
first
Judicial
District
I,
think
the
process
of
going
through
the
analysis
of
the
criminal
justice
system.
What
happens
to
people
where
they
go
in
the
different
stages
has
led
everybody
to
think
about
this
differently
and
implement
a
lot
of
a
lot
of
the
changes
ahead
of
the
actual
award
of
this
grant.
C
So
I
think
the
reduction
that
we're
seeing
I
mean
our
population
goes
down
in
the
wintertime
anyway.
But
it's
it's
really
going
down
and
we're
seeing
sustained
decreases.
Our
average
daily
population
has
dropped
every
month
this
year.
You
know
we're
down
18
percent
in
March
over
February,
so
I
think
that,
yes,
the
answer
your
question.
Diversionary
programs
are
working
and
we're
seeing
that
I
believe
and.
D
Hopefully,
you
know
with
this
holistic
approach,
I
think,
to
dealing
with
recidivism
and
and
trying
to
you
know,
bring
the
whole
entire
all
the
partners.
You
know
the
court
system,
the
District,
Attorney's,
Office,
and
and
and
do
everybody
together
for
a
you
know,
to
reduce
recidivism
crime,
etc,
is
certainly
you
know,
encouraging
and
and
I
hope
we
continuing
and
in
a
positive
way
it
can
technology
help
reduce
pretrial,
wait
or
how
can
technology
help
coordinate
and
schedule
in
in
shorten
the
time
for
pretrial
I.
C
Mean
one
of
the
strategies
under
McArthur
is
a
reduction
in
the
in
the
court
processing,
because
core
processing
directly
relates
to
our
length
of
stay
the
longer
it
takes
the
court
to
resolve
a
matter.
The
more
continuances
there
are,
the
longer
somebody
sits,
the
higher
our
population
numbers
go.
So
I
think
that
that
part
of
the
strategy
is
to
utilize
new
technology
on
the
pre
trial
end
in
terms
of
electronic
monitoring
just
being
able
to
track
people
where
they
are
where
they
shouldn't
be
able
to
go,
call
them
in
supervise
them.
C
So
that's
more
of
as
I've
explained
to
counsel
Montalban
Berger,
that's
more
of
a
pretrial
services
court
issue.
That's
not
really
a
function
of
what
the
prison
system
does,
but
as
part
of
the
criminal
justice
process
and
the
MacArthur
grant.
That
is
something
that
we're
working
together
with
them
on
and
I.
Think
they're
going
to
be
utilizing
that
technology,
to
a
larger
extent,
to
help
reduce
our
pretrial
population
could
could.
D
C
It's
it's
springtime
is
a
lovely
time
up
it
up
at
State
Road
on
the
prison's.
We
have
six
facilities.
Our
newest
facility
is
the
Riverside
Correctional
Facility.
It's
an
all-female
facility,
that's
privately
maintained
by
us
facilities,
one
of
our
contract,
larger
contracts.
The
condition
of
that
facility
is
very
good.
Our
second
newest
is
Karen
from
hald
that
opened
in
1995
when
Holmesburg
closed,
that's
the
the
main
mail
intake
facility,
the
population
there
today
is.
C
Twenty
seven
forty,
we
are
experiencing
some
difficulties
with
some
of
the
components
in
that
building,
since
they
are
twenty
years
old,
we
have
a
capital
program
in
place
now
addressing
those
we
have
another
facility
built
in
the
86
p
icc,
some
capital
issues
over
there,
the
detention
center
built
in
64
that
has
dormitories.
You
know
it's,
it's
not
really
ideal,
modern
correctional
unit
management,
and
we
also
have
the
House
of
Corrections,
which
was
built
in
the
late
1800s
rehabbed
in
the
early
1920s,
and
that
is
an
old.
C
D
C
My
opinion,
the
conditions
in
all
of
our
facilities
are
constitutional,
inhumane.
We
have
just
resolved
the
last
round
of
litigation.
We've
been
involved
with
class-action
lawsuit.
You
know
the
settlement
will
be
public
soon.
You
know
there
has
been
no
finding
that
our
conditions
have
been
unconstitutional.
It'll,
be
a
de
minimis
settlement.
C
There'll
be
some
monitoring
and
I
believe
you
know
there
are
a
number
of
things
that
we
could
do
that
enhance
the
security
of
our
facilities
like
video
cameras
for
one
and
that's
a
requirement
under
the
Prison
Rape
Elimination
Act
and
that's
part
of
our
capital
planning
is
to
increase
this,
the
expanse
of
video
monitoring
in
our
facilities.
But,
yes,
we
have
adequate
security
in
all
of
our
facilities.
C
F
You
mr.
chair
and
I'll
make
it
really
quick
good
afternoon
to
you.
Congratulations
again
about
MacArthur
two
questions,
and
you
may
have
answered
this
already,
but
just
repeat
it
for
me
because
I
didn't
hear
it
of
the
total
population.
I
think
you
mentioned
7450
too,
did
you
give
a
total
dollar
amount
to
house
per
day.
B
B
F
C
This
point,
councilman
I,
can't
tell
you
specifically
of
the
74
52
in
custody
day,
which
ones
but
part
of
the
McArthur
strategies
identifies
people
by
in
terms
of
certain
cohorts.
They
have
to
fit
a
certain
classification
to
be
able
to
be
eligible
for
these
diversionary
programs.
So,
if
you
think
about
it,
you
know
it's
a
three-year
grant.
34
percent
is
the
reduction
target,
so
it's
probably
a
little
over.
You
know
10
11
percent
per
year,
so
about
10
or
11
percent
of
our
population
per
year
by
three
years
is
would
be
targeted.
F
Last
thing:
when
you
we
sort
of
talked
about
reducing
the
prison
population,
you
know
you
had
some
people
in
the
community
and
and
they
they
may
get
a
little
concern
just
from
a
public
safety
perspective,
and
so,
if
you're,
a
senior
who
was
listening
to
this
conversation,
tell
us
quickly
how
you
sort
of
straddle
that
line
without
compromising
public
safety
or
or
releasing.
Anyone
who
you
don't
think
according
to
the
system,
should
be
back
back
on
the
street.
C
I
want
to
emphasize
that
the
grant
is
called
the
you
know.
It's
the
safety
and
justice
challenge
grants.
So
safety
comes
first,
so
we
are
not
going
to
do
anything
that
would
imperil
public
safety.
So
that's
the
first
thing.
We
all
know
that
we
have
people
who
belong
in
prison
people
who
commit
serious
violent
acts.
C
They
belong
there
and
and
that's
why
we
exist.
There
are
a
lot
of
people
who
are
mentally
ill,
who
are
poor,
who
are
sick
suffering
from
dependency
on
drugs,
alcohol
who
just
don't,
belong
in
prison
and
can
be
treated
better
in
the
community
cheaper
in
the
community
so
and
we're
not
talking
about
absolving
people
of
their
wrongdoing.
I
mean
they're
still
going
through
the
justice
system,
but
they're
going
through
the
justice
system
in
a
way
that
their
their
activity
is
being
monitored.
C
Their
progress
is
being
monitored
and
they're,
getting
the
help
in
the
assistance
that
they
need.
So
I
think
people
would
be
happy
to
hear
that
that
lower-level
individuals
are
being
released
in
the
community
under
supervision
and
getting
the
services
they
need,
rather
than
just
being
back
in
the
community.
Unsupported
well.
F
E
You
mr.
Chen
I'll
be
very
brief.
Congratulations
to
the
new
commissioner
I'll.
Just
ask
you
this
quick
question
from
my
understanding.
The
prison
medical
contract
will
be
up
either
in
FY
18
or
FY
19,
which
is
probably
the
largest
contract
federal
service
contract.
That
prisons
had
I
wanted
to
ask
the
new
commissioner
her
thoughts
and
perspectives
on
MWBE
contracting
opportunities
with
regards
to
that
contract.