Pennsylvania is home to multiple immigrant detention facilities operating under contracts with federal immigration authorities. These facilities have come under growing scrutiny for human rights violations, deaths in custody, economic harm to host communities, and erosion of public trust in local government.

 

At the same time, counties and municipalities across the Commonwealth are grappling with disinvestment, workforce gaps, housing shortages, and the need for restorative economic development. Reimagining the use of carceral infrastructure — toward workforce training hubs, deeply affordable housing, green manufacturing, local/regional business incubators, and restorative justice centers — presents a genuine opportunity to align public resources with community need.

 

This resolution directs the Joint State Government Commission to conduct a comprehensive feasibility study examining the economic, social, and environmental impacts of detention facilities in Pennsylvania; identifying best practices from jurisdictions that have successfully repurposed detention or correctional infrastructure; and developing a community-centered conversion framework that centers residents, workers, faith communities, and local organizations in every stage of decision-making.

 

Critically, the resolution establishes community participation — fair, transparent, and rigorous — as a condition of eligibility for any state transition grant funds. This is not a study about what the state wants to do to communities. It is a study about how the state can support what communities want to do for themselves.

 

The JSGC would consult immigrant rights organizations, labor and workforce development representatives, academic institutions, affected community members, faith-based organizations, and state agencies including the Department of Community and Economic Development, the Department of Human Services, and the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. 

 

A final report with draft legislative and administrative proposals would be due within 12 months.