dailycaller
Anders Hagstrom
4:40 PM 06/12/2017
[excerpt]
http://dailycaller.com/2017/06/12/philadelphia-stops-jailing-drug-dealers-amid-heroin-trafficking-surge/The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) calls Philadelphia one of the largest heroin markets in the U.S., but city officials announced Friday that in the last two years, they have reduced prison populations by nearly 20 percent, often by not imprisoning drug offenders.
The city’s drug problem has only been growing since 2015 when Philadelphia first began implementing justice reforms, letting more drug offenders out of prison. On average, there are 1,500 fewer inmates in Philadelphia jails on any given day than there were in 2015, BillyPenn reported Monday.
The low incarceration rate is due to a slew of reform programs that have prevented low-level, non-violent offenders from receiving jail time, likely affecting many drug offenders.
The city expects to implement six more programs within the year to further decrease its prison populations. The 12 programs already in place cut down on pre-trial prison time, but the DEA shows the reforms may only be adding to the city’s drug problem. The availability of heroin, cocaine, and prescription drugs all increased in Philadelphia during 2015, according to the agency’s 2016 Drug Threat Assessment.
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