The intersection between health care and prison reform has arguably never been more publicly visible than through the inhumane living conditions endured by the detainees at the D.C. county jail. This jail has consistently come under scrutiny regarding its conditions including, but not limited to, extreme confinement lasting more than 400 days and a class action lawsuit pertaining to proper COVID protocols. Unfortunately, this is just one example of the many jails, prisons, and detention centers in America that force detainees to suffer through uninhabitable conditions.
An impromptu inspection in October of 2021 revealed that the D.C. jail’s roughly 1,500 detainees are forced to live in systemic, inhumane and unsanitary living conditions. Notedly, many of these detainees have yet to be found guilty and are currently awaiting trial. These egregious conditions range from denial of food, water, and showers for punitive reasons, cells filled with sewage and blood, water leaks, mold, roaches, and lack of access to necessary medical care. There is no question that long term exposure to these conditions leads to physical and psychological trauma, which increases the likelihood that they will require future medical care.
Many representatives have likened the jail’s conditions to unconstitutional, cruel and unusual punishments. Even Marjorie Taylor Greene drew attention to the matter by visiting the January 6th defendants and claimed they face conditions worse than the homeless and prisoners of war. The roughly 40 January 6th detainees, however, are located in the Correctional Treatment Facility (CTF). They are isolated from the jail’s general population with more sanitary conditions, and thus they will not be transferred immediately. In fact, many of the jail’s other detainees have filed emergency motions to transfer into CTF.
A 2015 report on D.C. prisoners’ living conditions proves that authorities were notified of these inhumane living conditions. These conditions, however, are nothing new to the Black detainees who make up 87% of the jail’s populationand have repeatedly complained throughout the years. It is no surprise that U.S. media attention and legal action began to rise due to complaints made by the mostly white, January 6th defendants. Recently, a U.S. judge held D.C. jail officials in contempt for delaying medical treatment to a January 6th defendant that broke his wrist in custody and required surgery. This judge further recommended that the Department of Justice investigate potential civil rights violations at the jail.
Following the 2021 inspection and recent legal actions, the U.S. Marshal ordered the transfer of all sentenced inmates beginning November 8, 2021. Unfortunately, many of these inmates will be transferred to a prison in Lewisburg, PA where living conditions are not much better and inmates will likely have less access to their lawyers. “The notion that Lewisburg is an improvement over the D.C. jail points to the degree of human suffering occurring right now,” said the D.C. Public Defenders Office. The rest of the detainees will remain in D.C. until their upcoming hearing dates where they will either be released or quarantined before being transferred to Lewisburg or federal prison.
A silver lining can be found in the midst of these civil and constitutional rights violations, notwithstanding what it took to get them formally recognized. D.C. officials were forced to address these inhumane living conditions due to the influx of complaints, media attention, investigational reports, and legal actions. A local task force created and expedited a plan to replace the D.C. facility, which will be completed by 2027. This new facility will presumably be equipped with the safe, sanitary living conditions that these inmates deserve.
In addition to human rights violations, it is also interesting to note the financial impact that systemic treatment of inmates across the U.S. has on the American economy and individual taxpayer. The Supreme Court previously determined that inmates have a constitutional right to medical care while in custody. Although inmates may retain pre-incarceration private insurance coverage, a majority qualify for Medicaid and Medicare. Those programs, however, often refuse to pay for health care during incarceration leaving states responsible for covering the cost in order to avoid constitutional violations. Thus, it is in the federal, state, and local governments’ best interest to maintain livable jails and prisons to reduce financial costs in addition to constitutional and civil rights violations. It is imperative that safer living conditions are incorporated in the discussion of prison reform; our nation’s incarcerated, taxpayers, and government will be better off for it.