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| D.C. Jail’s Cell Doors Don’t Work |
| By Jason Cherkis |
| Published: 04/17/2009 |
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This past week, City Desk reported that the D.C. Jail has shut down its visitation hours for the early part of this month. The Department of Corrections told us that the reason families can’t see their loved ones is simple: Officers are conducting a total sweep of the jail. The closure’s timing is suspicious but seems unconnected to two issues within the jail—a major incident and an possible on-going problem with cell doors not working (hello, safety hazard!). The mayor’s office e-mailed me a statement on both issues. First, the major incident: “There was a confined incident on March 11, during which two inmates set fire to an officers’ station in one cell block. Inmates involved were confined, no one was hurt and the fire was extinguished. Inmates on the unit have been transferred to other facilities while repairs are being made.” Several sources have a different, more inside story on the torched station. In an April 8 letter sent to the Washington Lawyers’ Committee For Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, an inmate writes that between March 5 and March 25, there was a “riot” in the second floor units. Since then, there have been a series of “brutal” assaults. A corrections officer tells City Desk that the inmate’s story is accurate: They did consider the incident a riot. “The emergency response team came in to get the unit back. The inmates were in control of the unit,” they say. “I think they started a little fire. It’s hard to burn the jail down because its concrete. The Deputy Director Pat Britton tried to negotiate with them.” Her negotiations failed. It took the ERT a while to get the unit under control–”it was a couple hours before they went in,” the officer says. The ERT maced down the unit. The inmates then showered, and were ordered into the rec yard where they were split up. “It took them a couple weeks to clean that unit up,” the officer says. “They came out because the cell doors didn’t work. It was a mess in there. The officers had to leave the bubble area. You only had three officers to 140 inmates. Nothing you could do but step back.” The inmate writes of the aftermath: “Some inmates were immediately transferred to a Maximum Security in Baltimore due to the Enormous Amount of Interior devastation to one of the 2nd floor units. The families of DC Jail inmates were so concerned that on Tuesday April 07, 09 They about 200 maybe a little more had a protest…. On Wednesday April 8, 09 the 3rd flr of DC Jail was on [lockdown], for shakedown purposes. Correctional Officers took all the sheets, towels…drinking containers, extra blankets.” As for the broken doors, here’s what the Mayor’s Office had to say in a statement: “The DOC operates the Central Detention Facility with 1,600 cell door mechanisms in 18 housing units. Due to inmates tampering, minor malfunctions of cell doors have occurred in the past; nevertheless, DOC Facilities Management has addressed these problems as they occurred to maintain a safe and secure facility. Further, under the Capital Program all cell doors are scheduled to be upgraded and or replaced beginning January 1, 2010. Mayor Fenty and the Department of Corrections are committed to ensuring the safe, secure and humane confinement of pretrial detainees and sentenced misdemeanants.” Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
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