Lawsuit Rekindled Over Philadelphia Prison Crowding
By Mike Dunn
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Nutter administration is again getting hauled into court over cramped conditions in city prisons.
Civil rights attorney David Rudovsky says Philadelphia's prison population has jumped by more than 2,000 in the past year and a half.
"And that creates enormous problems: not only overcrowding, three men to a cell, but also a deterioration of essential services to the inmates," he tells KYW Newsradio.
Rudovsky had sued the city in 2008 on behalf of several inmates, but the suit was suspended last year when the prison population dropped below 7,700.
Now, with the numbers far higher, a federal judge has agreed to reopen the suit. The mayor's spokesman says the suit is being reviewed and he cannot comment.
Rudovsky says the next step will be tours by his team of the prisons to get a firsthand look.
