Philly's jails graduate 46 new officers as the vacancy rate falls to 13%, down from 47%
The Prisons Department says it has hired more than 825 correctional officers since 2024. Council is still waiting on answers to its written questions about jail health care.
Philadelphia's jails added 46 correctional officers on Friday, Oct. 30, when Correctional Officer Class 26-04 graduated after 13 weeks of training, the Philadelphia Tribune reported. Fifteen officers were promoted to sergeant at the same ceremony in Northeast Philadelphia.
The bigger number is the vacancy rate. The Prisons Department says the share of unfilled correctional officer jobs has fallen from 47% to 13%, with more than 825 officers hired since Mayor Cherelle L. Parker took office in 2024, the Tribune reported. Correctional officers staff the city's jails around the clock, so how many posts sit empty shapes how the jails run for the people held there and the staff who work there.
What officials said
- Prisons Commissioner Michael Resnick told the graduates that "experience is a commodity that is in short supply on State Road," referring to the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility, the Tribune reported. In other words, many of the officers now on the job are new.
- At-large Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, who chairs the Committee on Legislative Oversight, gave the keynote, and Managing Director Carlton Williams attended, according to the Tribune.
The Tribune's report does not say how the vacancy figures were calculated or when the department expects to fill the remaining openings.
What our records add
The health care hearing is still open. Thomas chaired Council's Oct. 28 hearing on medical care in the jails, after the longtime contractor, YesCare, went bankrupt in May and the city moved care to CFG Health. At that hearing, Resnick said nine of 17 scheduled medical staff called out on one May night and five were replaced. Council said it would send written questions to the administration on medication-assisted treatment and contract oversight (our story). The hearing was authorized by Resolution 260778, which nine members sponsored. Our records show no answers posted and no follow-up hearing scheduled as of today.
Oversight and the charter. Council asked voters to write the Philadelphia Prison Community Oversight Board into the Home Rule Charter with Bill 240817, from Thomas with 15 co-sponsors, which passed 17-0 in January 2025. At the Oct. 28 hearing, the board's chair said the board was not consulted before CFG got the jail medical contract, the Tribune reported.
Contracts don't come to Council. Our records show no Council bill approving the CFG Health contract. Jail medical contracts are awarded by the administration. Staffing levels are also an administrative decision, though Council sets the department's budget each spring.