Samantha Melamed

2 weeks ago | centredaily.com | Samantha Melamed

After years of critical understaffing, violence, and deaths within Philadelphia's jail complex, voters will decide in May whether to install a prison oversight board to monitor the facilities and make recommendations for reform. "Oversight is desperately needed," said City Councilmember Nicolas O'Rourke, describing a visit to the Northeast Philadelphia complex last summer when he observed a man bleeding profusely in his cell. The man had been crying out for help for hours, O'Rourke learned.

2 weeks ago | inquirer.com | Samantha Melamed

After years of critical understaffing, violence and deaths within Philadelphia’s jail complex, voters will decide in May whether to install a prison oversight board to monitor the facilities and make recommendations for reform. “Oversight is desperately needed,” said City Councilmember Nicolas O’Rourke, describing how a visit to the Northeast Philadelphia complex last summer when he observed a man bleeding profusely in his cell. The man had been crying out for help for hours, heO’Rourke learned.

2 weeks ago | inquirer.com | Samantha Melamed |Jesse Bunch

State regulators revoked the license of Philadelphia’s juvenile detention facility this week — reissuing it on a provisional basis only — after a riot broke out during a boxing event there in January, endangering children, officials said. The state Department of Human Services cited multiple violations at the Juvenile Justice Services Center in West Philadelphia, including the “systemic” and improper use of restraints and restrictive procedures to punish children.

2 weeks ago | inquirer.com | Samantha Melamed |Max Marin |Dylan Purcell

Bailey McKenna had worked a year of landscaping jobs and weekend shifts at a local pub to earn the money for repairs to his dirt bike, paying his mechanic in installments. Finally, on Nov. 14, 2016, the 18-year-old high school senior from Northeast Philly’s Holmesburg section had the last of the cash in hand. He asked his older brother, Liam McKenna, for a ride in his truck so they could retrieve the red Honda. But Liam was tied up at work. “He couldn’t wait,” Liam McKenna said.

3 weeks ago | centredaily.com | Samantha Melamed

Pennsylvania's state-run Youth Development Centers will limit use of restraints and accept oversight by an independent monitor for at least a year to settle a long-standing lawsuit filed by youth advocates. The settlement, finalized in March, resolves litigation filed in 2019 by Disability Rights Pennsylvania, a nonprofit organization that has a federal mandate to advocate for people with disabilities.