The Prison Society continues to monitor conditions at the Detention Center (DC) in Philadelphia, noticing some improvements, although serious issues persist.
Key to many of the improvements noticed during the Dec. 9, 2025 walkthrough is the historic reduction in the number of people incarcerated in Philadelphia’s prison system. When there are fewer people in prison, there is reduced strain on corrections personnel in a system that is chronically understaffed. A higher staff-to-prison population ratio leads to better, safer, and more humane conditions.
Since May 2025, the average daily population has been about 3,500, a 33-year low. A reduced population improves access to basic needs such as out-of-cell time, phone calls, soap, and toilet paper, while easing the burden on the beleaguered staff.
“We see clear evidence that reducing jail populations can lead to safer and more humane conditions,” said Noah Barth, Prison Society Prison Monitoring Director. “At the same time, too many people still report hunger, isolation, and abuse. There is still work to do.”
Areas of progress
More people report that they are getting out of their cells every day, 25 percent compared to 2 percent during the last walkthrough of DC in August 2024. More people report that corrections officers are available at night and on the weekend.
Fewer phones are broken and most people interviewed – 83 percent – can make phone calls daily, up from 69 percent in August 2024. There’s improved access to the law library and most people are able to get the items they’ve ordered from the commissary, or else receive refunds.
In a letter responding to the walkthrough findings memo, Prison Commissioner Resnick wrote that some conditions will continue to improve because each incarcerated person has been issued a personal tablet – a new development since the December walkthrough. The tablets, he wrote, will enable easier access to phone calls, the law library, and the inmate handbook.
Wait-time for medical care has improved and clean sheets and clothing are more readily available than in the past
Promising, but not optimal
While all of that is promising, it’s still less than optimal.
It’s important for people’s physical and mental health that they be allowed outside of their cells. In August 2024, only two percent of those interviewed said they had been out of their cells every day in the prior week. That number jumped to 25 percent in December.
But still, the majority of those interviewed, 75 percent, say a week can go by without them being released from their cells.
Commissioner Resnick disputes this finding, saying that incarcerated people in dormitories can move around their sections 24 hours a day and are given two hours daily in the yard, weather permitting, and another two hours in the gym. He states that people in some housing units are allowed out of their cells ten hours a day and have two hours a day in the gym and yard.
Laundry service is another place where the situation, while improved, is not optimal. For example, in August 2024, only 11 percent said they were getting clean clothes weekly. In December, 48 percent reported that they were getting clean clothes on a weekly basis. But that remains less than half and not as good as in January 2023 when 65 percent of people interviewed said they received clean clothes weekly.
Commissioner Resnick said that laundry service happens weekly.
Still hungry, scared, and unable to receive visitors
More serious are persistent complaints about the lack of food. Commissioner Resnick says meals provide a daily caloric intake of 2,417 calories and follow federal nutritional guidelines.
However, nearly everyone interviewed over many years said they don’t receive enough food. “It’s enough for a teenage child, it’s not enough for a grown man,” said one person.
We have observed meals being served over one dozen times and the portions consistently appeared to be too small.
Most people also report that they are hungry between meals – particularly between dinner, which is served around 4 or 5 p.m. and breakfast the next day. “We save bread and apples and stuff to get us through,” one person said.
Problems with roaches and rats persist, but have improved and should improve further, Commissioner Resnick wrote, because more meals are being served in dining areas rather than cells.
Safety concerns remain troubling.
In December, 52 percent of people interviewed said they witnessed an assault by a staff member, up from 32 percent in August 2024. In December, seventy percent said they had seen fights between incarcerated people, up from 44 percent in August 2024.
Even with these increases, the people we interviewed felt somewhat safer than they did in August 2024. In August 2024, 72 percent felt unsafe, compared to 60 percent in December. Again, the feeling of safety has improved, but is not optimal, since more than half feel unsafe.
Visiting procedures also pose a worsening problem.
Visits happen in another building, people reported, requiring transport and long wait times for themselves and their family members. “They (i.e. family) have a hardship of waiting two to three hours for a one-hour visit, then one hour wait to go back (so they can leave),” one person said.
Of the 38 people we spoke to who said that a family member had attempted to visit them, only 12 said the visit actually happened. “My wife came yesterday, but nobody (on staff) called me.”
To inform this report, Prison Society staff and three volunteers toured two general population dormitories and one general population cell area, conducting structured interviews with 53 men during the Dec. 9 walkthrough.
You can read the complete walkthrough findings here.
