The mission of the Department of Corrections (DOC) is to provide a safe, secure, orderly and humane environment for the confinement of pretrial detainees and sentenced inmates, while affording those in custody meaningful rehabilitative opportunities for successful community reintegration.
Summary of Services
The DOC operates the Central Detention Facility (CDF) and houses inmates in the Correctional Treatment Facility (CTF) through a contract with the Corrections Corporation of America; both facilities are accredited by the American Correctional Association (ACA). The department has contracts with two private halfway houses: Fairview and Hope Village; these are often used as alternatives to incarceration. Like other municipal jails, 60 to 70 percent of inmates in DOC’s custody have one or more outstanding legal matters that require detention, while the remaining 30 to 40 percent are mostly sentenced inmates or parole violators, with a very few writs and holds (three to four percent). Median lengths of stay for released inmates are 31 days or less. Ninety percent of DOC’s inmates are male. DOC also houses female inmates and a small number of juveniles charged as adults at the CTF.
Each facility offers inmates a number of programs and services that support successful community re-entry. These include: Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT); Re-entry preparation (Re-Entry); Institutional Work Details and Community Work Squads; Job-readiness Training; Special Education (through the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS); and Adult Education and GED Preparation provided by DOC. ACA and National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC) accredited comprehensive health and mental health services are provided through Unity Health Care (contractually) and the District's Department of Behavioral Health. In addition, facilities provide inmate personal adjustment and support services, such as food services, laundry, religious programming, visitation, law library, and inmate grievance process. DOC facilities operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
