Authorizing the City Council Committee on Law and Government to hold hearings on whether The Philadelphia Home Rule Charter should be amended to provide for the creation of a Criminal Justice Reinvestment Fund to reinvest savings from a reduced prison population into criminal justice reform programs.

WHEREAS, The City of Philadelphia has been committed to criminal justice reform, demonstrated by the creation of City Council’s Special Committee on Criminal Justice Reform and the dedicated work of the Philadelphia County Criminal Justice Advisory Board; and

WHEREAS, Philadelphia’s dedication to criminal justice reform was nationally recognized when the City was awarded a $3.5 million MacArthur Foundation Grant to fund a plan to reduce the prison population by 34% over three years; and

WHEREAS, Currently, the average daily prison population in Philadelphia is 7,500 persons. It costs the City between $94 and $122 to house a prisoner each day. The Department of Prisons was appropriated over $258 million for fiscal year 2017, to keep prisons running at this capacity. With a reduction in the prison population size will come a reduction in costs and result in savings to the City; and

WHEREAS, The Council of the City of Philadelphia should examine whether The Philadelphia Home Rule Charter should be amended to establish a Criminal Justice Reinvestment Fund, where a percentage of yearly savings caused by a reduced prison population will be reinvested to benefit programs and services that will further the City’s dedication to criminal justice reform, and ensure that the prison population remains reduced while producing a safer City for our citizens to live in; and

WHEREAS, Under Section 6 of the First Class City Home Rule Act (53 P.S. §13106), an amendment to the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter may be proposed by a resolution of the Council of the City of Philadelphia adopted with the concurrence of two-thirds of its elected members; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the Council of the City of Philadelphia, Hereby authorizes the City Council Committee on Law and Government to hold hearings on whether The Philadelphia Home Rule Charter should be amended to provide for the creation of a Criminal Justice Reinvestment Fund to reinvest savings from a reduced prison population into criminal justice reform programs.

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