Accomplishments

Legislative

Began debate, and directed research, that led to the passage of laws to ban the use of cell phones while operating a motor vehicle in the City of Philadelphia

Legislative History, Cell Phone Legislation, Click here

Created proposed legislation, to promote ethics in government

Legislative History, Ethics Legislation, Nepotism, Click here
Legislative History, Ethics Legislation, Lobbying, Click here
Legislative History, Campaign Finance, Click here
Legislative History, Outside Employment of Elected and Other Public Officials, Click here

Click here for information on Philadelphia's City Council

Criminal Justice Planning

Authored the first and only comprehensive plan to reduce jail overcrowding in the City of Philadelphia which formed the basis to significantly reduce the population of the City’s jails and produced millions of dollars in budget savings
Spearheaded the creation of the City of Philadelphia’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee, and served as its coordinator from 2001 to 2008
Successfully advocated for and then spearheaded the first comprehensive review of the Philadelphia Criminal Justice System in over a decade;
Instituted C.O.R.E.S.T.A.R. (Correctional Outcomes, Reentry, Ethics, Security, Treatment and Accountability Review), achieving, among other things, a $5 million reduction in overtime in the first year

Created the AXIOM data warehouse system to enhance security, safety, and long range forecasting in the Philadelphia Prison System

Click here to review Reports and Studies

Community Relations & Prisoner Re-Entry

Established the Office of Community Justice and Outreach to increase public awareness around the issue of corrections and comprehensive criminal justice planning, and to improve relations with the community;

Convened the first City-Wide Re-Entry Summit, bringing 800 stakeholders and community members together to strategize and form partnerships around prisoner re-entry;

Created community partnerships to reduce recidivism and enhance public safety with Philadelphia Mural Arts; the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society; the Boy Scouts of America; Mother’s in Charge; Maternity Care Coalition; Planned Parenthood; and Philadelphia FIGHT;

Created the Frankford Roundtable, a community partnership to reduce recidivism and crime in a particular city neighborhood;

Healed the rift with HIV/AIDS activists through a policy of openness and participation. Enhanced training and sensitivity on this issue for staff, instituted upgraded discharge services, rapid HIV testing, and placed condoms on the commissary list;

Instituted the JOBS Project, a community partnership to reduce recidivism.

Click here for more information

Click here to read about the Office of Community Justice and Outreach at the Philadelphia Prison System

Security and Operational Standards

Implemented use of force policies and procedures that enabled the Philadelphia Prison System to obtain termination of a court enforced Consent Decree concerning use of force;

Completed construction, and brought on-line a $50 million, 750 bed, state of the art maximum security correctional facility for women;

Enhanced security, reduced injury to staff, and reduced incidents of the use of force by training all staff and implementing the use of pepper spray in all facilities;

Successfully commanded and resolved a hostage taking event with no injury or loss of life;

Developed and implemented a standardized Investigation Manual for all investigative units of the Philadelphia Prison System;

Created the Office of Special Investigations to specifically scrutinize inmate deaths, and to gather intelligence on, and strategize against, security threat groups;

Significantly upgraded officer safety by implementing system wide training and then implementing the Glock Semi-Automatic as the primary side arm for officers, retiring the 38 Revolver;

Obtained certification from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the Philadelphia Prison System Training Academy for the first time in its history;

Created and implemented a comprehensive Disciplinary Code for the first time in the history of the Philadelphia Prison System;

Achieved system-wide firearm certification for the first time in the history of the Philadelphia Prison System;

Created a formal Hostage Negotiation Team and implemented related training for the first time in the history of the Philadelphia Prison System;

Increased staffing and training for the Correctional Emergency Response Team in the Philadelphia Prison System (CERT);

Implemented and created the first armed Bike Patrol in any mega-jail complex to enhance safety and security of the physical plant;

Instituted system- wide tactical weapons training and standardized all restraint equipment used in the Philadelphia Prison System;

Completed a comprehensive staffing review and reduced staffing by 10 percent;

Developed a Victim Notification System;

Instituted quarterly training in the use of restraints, behavioral health, and defensive tactics for all restricted housing unit staff;

Created an emergency management unit to oversee and coordinate all emergency preparedness and related activities;

Click here to find out more about CORESTAR

Commissioner Leon A. King II, presiding over a CORESTAR management meeting

Click here for full image

Medical and Behavioral Health Operations

Achieved simultaneous accreditation of five facilities from the National Commission on Correctional Health Care for the first time in the history of the Philadelphia Prison System;

Received certification for the- patient mental health unit for the first time in the history of the Philadelphia Prison System;

Completed system-wide study of $50 million medical and behavioral health services contract and implemented recommendations streamlining operations and reducing costs over $28,000,000 over 5 years Examples include:

Absorbed an increased census while reducing medical cost inflation from 15.2% (FY '05) to 2.1% (FY '09)
Implemented "Total Generic" formulary
Implemented Nurse Triage procedures, thereby reducing unnecessary sick call visits by 40%
Implemented "Keep on Person" medication procedures, freeing 7 FTE LPNs to attend to other clinical issues
Implemented (voluntary) rapid HIV testing, increasing testing from less than 10% to over 80%
Implemented Administration of off-campus medical services contracting and claim payment by a Third party administrator, reducing facility and specialist expenses by 20%
Initiated efforts leading to the first municipal mental health reentry court.
Revised intake procedures, reducing time to completion of medical intake from 2.5 days to 4 hours
Implemented an electronic medical intake screening instrument that schedules mental health and chronic care follow-up visits in the prison's inmate tracking system
Automated all clinical service appointment scheduling
Implemented electronic submission of all behavioral health referrals
Increased timeliness of response to emergent, urgent and routine behavioral health referrals from 35% to over 90%
Co-sponsored development of an RFP for an electronic health record to serve (and integrate) Prison and Public health Primary care center records
Implemented a behavioral health house-call service off-hours and weekends to speed response to emergent needs
Implemented common message routine refresher training of correctional officers via video taped educational presentations
Implemented electronic ordering and order status/results access by providers to pharmacy and laboratory data from any Prison facility
Brought (high volume) dialysis and outpatient orthopedic services on campus to decrease transportation burdens
Implemented an electronic interface between prison and police registration systems to auto-populate the prison's database with real-time police data

Click to learn more about the NCCHC

Click here to learn about mental illness in prisons and jails

Click here to learn about services to pregnant woman who are incarcerated in Philadelphia

Significant Litigation

Citizen Plaintiff Clients

Corruption, conspiracy, Funaro, et.,al., v. City of Philadelphia, Dept of Licenses and Inspection, Deputy Commissioner Dominic Verdi, et.al, U.S. District Court (Settled $225,000.00 - 2011);
False arrest, corruption, Correctional Officer Denise Bentley v. City of Philadelphia, Police Officer Devora Waters, et.,al., U.S. District Court (Settled, $100,000.00 - 2011);
Private Conspiracy, Brome v. City of Philadelphia & Ruth Eldridge, Pre-suit (2011)

Law Enforcement Defendant Clients

Massive police corruption, in re 39th Police District Litigation, U.S. District Court;
Prison overcrowding class action, Harris v. Reeves, U.S. District Court;
Police shootings, McCleod v. City of Philadelphia¸ U.S. District Court;
Police sexual harassment and retaliation, Carter- Herman v. Philadelphia Police Dept., U.S. District Court;
Juvenile detention overcrowding class action¸ Santiago v. City of Philadelphia, U.S. District Court;
Prison conditions class action, Jackson v. Hendricks, Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas;
Police racial profiling, crowd control, use of force, Martin v. City of Philadelphia, U.S. District Court;
Court records and illegal detention, Warrington v. City of Philadelphia. U.S. District Court;
False arrest and bribery of a public official, Bell v. City of Philadelphia, U.S. District Court;
Jail suicide,Owens v. City of Philadelphia;
Improper identification, false arrest, Olabode v. City of Philadelphia, U.S. District Court;
Constructive possession ($ 2.1 million worth of heroin), consent searches, Nweese v. City of Philadelphia;
Use of force, Lester v. Shuler;

Click here to hear more about Funaro v. City and Fiso Lounge

Click here to read about the 39th District Police District Civil Rights Litigation

Click here to read about the Santiago Consent Decree and the history of the Philadelphia Youth Study Center