Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua, Archbishop of Philadelphia, will make a Pastoral Visit to the Philadelphia Detention Center and meet with the inmates on

Sunday, July 9, 2000
Media Availability - 10:30 a.m.
Philadelphia Detention Center Lobby
8201 State Road
Philadelphia

Following introductions of the Cardinal and Commissioner Thomas Costello, there will be an opportunity for questions. Then the Cardinal will meet with some of the inmates. The media are invited to attend and photograph/video. A private prayer service and visit will follow.

Pope John Paul II has declared July 9, 2000, as the day set apart for visiting prisons during the Holy Year Jubilee. The Holy Father will visit Regina Coeli Prison in Rome and has asked every bishop in the world to visit a prison on this day to offer spiritual and moral support. Cardinal Bevilacqua's last visit to a prison was on July 20, 1999, when he visited Montgomery County Correctional Facility.

The Philadelphia Detention Center was built in 1963 and is one of five facilities in the Philadelphia Prison System. It is a minimum custody facility with a population of 1,100 males. The Prison Health Services wing is a hospital facility attached to the Detention Center, and has approximately ninety inmates.

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Contact
Marie Kelly
Associate Director
215-587-3747