Philadelphia Department of Prisons Chief Blanche Carney announced she is stepping down from the troubled department next month.

Carney sent a letter to her staff that her last day will be April 5, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. She is the first woman to serve as chief of the Philadelphia Department of Prisons.

Since 2016, Carney has overseen the city’s four prisons and jails, which have come under scrutiny due to poor living conditions for inmates. A report conducted by the Pennsylvania Prison Society found inmates lacked adequate food and dealt with a rat infestation. Under Blanche’s watch, four inmates escaped in six months and three homicides occurred. In 2021, 18 inmates died.

A federal judge appointed a monitor to oversee jails as a condition in a settlement of a class-action lawsuit. The monitor found the agency failed to meet its constitutional obligations in part due to a workforce shortage. 

In her letter, Carney attributes the COVID-19 pandemic as a strain on correctional operations.  

Last year, the Philadelphia correctional officers union cast a unanimous “no confidence” vote in Carney. 

Mayor Cherelle Parker said in a statement that “there will be no shortage of second-guessing her performance.” 

”However, I have a great deal of respect for the job the Commissioner has done,” Parker said. “We wish her well, and thank her for her dedication she has demonstrated to our city.”

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Parker, who took office in January, has been focusing her efforts in crime-ridden neighborhoods of Philadelphia, even suggesting bringing in the National Guard, according to NBC News. In order to deter violence and crime, the city will now increase the number of officers on patrol on the weekends. 

“Hitting those hot spots that we know we have violent crime, those hot spots where we know we have continuous ongoing crime, that’s going to be their primary focus,” Deputy Commissioner John Stanford said.