DC Jail facilities are in flux and a complicated topic themselves, with Central Cell Block temporarily moved and plans for a new jail in the works. Meanwhile, DC has no prison facility at this point, so people are sent, post-sentencing, to federal Bureau of Prisons facilities around the country, often quite distant from DC. See summary (2023) from DC Policy Center.
More to come — see related organizations
Related Organizations
District Task Force on DC Jails & Justice
Court Watch DC — powered by Harriets Wildest Dreams
DC Justice Lab — information and action links for all aspects of DC carceral systems
Interfaith Action for Human Rights — info on federal prisons, parole, and more
Neighbors for Justice — striving to be good neighbors to incarcerated and others
Conditions at Correctional Treatment Facility from IAHR (Feb 2019)
“Reimagining Criminal Justice; DC Jail” — IAHR 2022 video conversation on issues at DC Jail
Deaths at the Jail
(deaths are way too common in DC Jail, have been for years; more links to come)
Seven Deaths in DC Jails (2022): DCist
Five Deaths in DC Jails: Washington Informer 2024
Stabbing Death at DC Jail May 2025
Food Justice
“We’re Hungry in Here” 2023 news from DC Greens
Food Justice note from DC Fiscal Policy Institute, 2025
Solitary Confinement
ERASE — Ending Restrictive and Segregated Enclosures (2023 DC Council bill) — Campaign to end torture in DC
Virginia Avniel Spatz 