Philadelphia Inmate Space and Planning Study

In 2016, the City of Philadelphia was the recipient of a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation under the Safety and Justice Challenge. The purpose of this grant was to implement innovative strategies and evidence-based programs aimed at reducing the jail population. Ultimately, these strategies led to a significant population decrease.

The decline in jail population presents an opportunity to re-imagine the City’s prison system to align resources with the behavioral and programmatic needs of the current inmate population in a safe and secure manner. This included vacating aging and deficient buildings, consolidating existing facilities to achieve greater staff and operational efficiencies and proposing new purpose-built facilities.

In 2017, the City of Philadelphia retained CGL, supported by a team of consultants, to undertake this Inmate Space and Master Planning Study. In concert with representatives from the Philadelphia Core Planning Group the focus of the project was to develop a plan to modernize the Philadelphia Prison campuses and jail facilities to meet modern correctional best practices while reflecting the significant drop in the jail population.

This Inmate Space and Master Planning Report documented the condition of the current PDP facilities, defined the projected population needs, and prepared conceptual options to address the future needs of the PDP campus including the initial construction phase that strategically aligns an initial capital investment with the needs of the campus within the next five years.

The preferred master plan option was derived based on feedback and consensus from the Philadelphia core planning group. The recommended master plan option satisfies the guiding principles, offered a single secure perimeter with limited points of access, and proposed a new Integrated Treatment Center (ITC) with both general and specialized housing, a centralized medical and mental health clinic, visitation center check-in, re-entry services for inmates returning to the community and outdoor program spaces for all inmates.