D.C. Jail
| Location | Washington, Southeast, District of Columbia |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 38°53′00″N 76°58′35″W / 38.8834°N 76.9763°WCoordinates: 38°53′00″N 76°58′35″W / 38.8834°N 76.9763°W |
| Status | Operational |
| Capacity | 2,164 |
| Opened | 1872 |
| Managed by | District of Columbia Department of Corrections |
The District of Columbia Jail or the D.C. Central Detention Facility (commonly referred to as the D.C. Jail) is a jail run by the District of Columbia Department of Corrections that is located in the Washington, District of Columbia, United States. The Stadium–Armory station serves the D.C. Jail. The majority of male inmates housed in the Central Detention Facility are awaiting adjudication of cases or are sentenced for misdemeanor offenses. Females inmates in the custody of the DC Department of Corrections are housed at the adjacent Correctional Treatment Facility. After the National Capital Revitalization and Self-Government Improvement Act of 1997, sentenced felons are transferred to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
The current building was constructed in 1976. It replaced a jail built in 1872. In turn, this building replaced a federal penitentiary that had been torn down at the US Army Arsenal a few years earlier. Six German spies, tried in a military court, were electrocuted here in 1942, during World War II.
As of 2004, a group called the "Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop," came into the jail twice a week, which allowed inmates to read and write. This program allowed one inmate to change his life. The jail offers "HIV/ AIDS Prevention, Education and Intervention Services; Individual and Group Counseling Services; Hispanic Life Skills; Book Club; Street Law; Literacy Education; Religious Services; Mental Health Adjustment; and Anger Management, among other life skills development and religious services."
In August 1995, the Jail's medical care facility was placed under court-ordered receivership, after the District was held in contempt for repeatedly failing to implement court orders...intended to ensure adequate medical services to jail inmates". The receivership ended in September 2000.
In 2010, a long-time inmate of the DC Jail claimed that 9 years in the DC Jail was equivalent to 20 years in another prison. The inmate told of moldy jail cells, questionable strip searches, broken locks on cell doors, staph infections, rodents and violent assaults. US District Judge Thomas Hogan called the conditions at the jail "a shame."
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