COVID-19 Summary: The Pennsylvania Prison Society and incarcerated individuals filed a petition requesting that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court take immediate action to reduce the population of Pennsylvania county jails. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied the petition but ordered that the Pennsylvania judicial system take steps to reduce the population of incarcerated individuals and ensure that institutions adequately address COVID-19.

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On March 30, 2020, the Pennsylvania Prison Society and five incarcerated individuals, represented by the ACLU of Pennsylvania, filed an emergency petition with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Petitioners argued that under state law the Supreme Court had legal authority to reduce jail populations and that extraordinary measures in other states were indicative of the need for jail population reductions. Petitioners urged the Court to instruct all courts in the Commonwealth to immediately order county jails within their respective jurisdictions to release the following categories of people, subject to the objection provision outlined below:

a. Those who are within three months of, or beyond, their minimum sentence;
b. Those under a probation detainer (or serving a sentence) for a violation of probation or county parole where the violation does not arise out of the commission of a new felony offense;
c. Those eligible to periodically leave their correctional facilities, such as those eligible for work release or serving intermittent sentences (e.g., weekends);
d. Those detained pretrial solely due to an order imposing cash bail; and
e. Any incarcerated person at increased risk of severe COVID-19 complications and death as defined by the CDC, including those over the age of 45, and people with any of the following underlying medical conditions: blood disorders, chronic kidney or liver disease, compromised immune system, endocrine disorders (including diabetes), metabolic disorders, heart and lung disease, neurological and neurologic and neurodevelopmental conditions, and current or recent pregnancy.

Petitioners also requested that the Court take additional measures to reduce jail populations, including the cessation of setting cash bails, prioritizing hearings for in-custody defendants, and ensuring the availability of a venue for criminal proceedings. They also requested a special master to oversee compliance with the requests outlined above.

On April 3, 2020, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania denied the petition. 2020 WL 3116883. The court recognized the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic, but denied the petition because the immediate release of certain persons failed to consider the potential danger of inmates to the general population and the diversity of situations. Even so, the court directed that the President Judges of each judicial district coordinate with county officials to ensure that the county correctional institutions were adequately addressing the threat of COVID-19 and applying the recommendations of public health officials. If the recommendations of those officials could not be followed, President Judges were ordered to work with county officials to identify persons for potential release or transfer to reduce the populations held in institutions. President Judges were also ordered to take steps to limit the introduction of new inmates. Chief Justice Saylor wrote a concurring opinion, stating that, the Governor should issue an Executive Order, as the authority to release prisoners on account of a disaster emergency rests with him. 2020 WL 3109546.

The deadline for reconsideration was on May 12; the case is closed.

Cedar Hobbs - 04/02/2020
Averyn Lee - 06/14/2020


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