A new report from the Pennsylvania Prison Society on conditions at the Philadelphia Department of Prisons’ (PDP) Detention Center details improvements and continued deficiencies in conditions.
The December 2025 walkthrough report, now publicly available on the Prison Society’s website, examines conditions at the Detention Center, a 1960s building confining 367 men in several dorm- or barracks-like housing units.
The Prison Society conducts quarterly walkthroughs of PDP jails with trained Prison Society volunteers and staff who observe conditions and conduct anonymous interviews with jail residents. During the December walkthrough, the team interviewed 53 men and toured three housing units. The conclusion of these interviews and observations include:
Notable improvements regarding:
- Access to basic hygiene items such as toilet paper and soap
- Access to phone calls
Persistent issues including:
- Inadequate food
- Lack of purposeful activity
- Delays in laundry
- Rodents and roaches on the housing units
- Assaults by staff members
RRegular walkthroughs allow the Prison Society to document changes over time, elevate experiences of people in prison to jail administrators and the public, and promote accountability.
“Consistent monitoring is essential to both surfacing issues and understanding how conditions change over time. The additional transparency of this process hopefully gives lawmakers and the public valuable insights to ensure accountability,” said Noah Barth, Prison Monitoring Director at the Prison Society.
Thank you to all the Philadelphia-area volunteers who went on this walkthrough and to the many volunteers who, each week, help people incarcerated in Philadelphia-area jails.
