NCJ Number
143009
Date Published
Unknown
Length
41 pages
Annotation
The District of Columbia's Department of Corrections had a 1992 operating budget of $249 million and a staff of more than 4,000 employees, oversees an inmate population of about 10,700, expends about $59 a day per inmate, offers inmates a wide range of educational and work programs, and provides community-based rehabilitation services.
Abstract
The department operates a prison complex in Lorton, Virginia, as well as a detention facility, a correctional treatment facility, and several community correctional centers. The Lorton complex houses misdemeanant and felony offenders who are classified according to medium, minimum, or maximum custody levels. Facilities for adult offenders are separate from the facility for young adult offenders between 17 and 21 years of age who are sentenced under the D.C. Youth Rehabilitation Act. Adult inmates under the department's authority spend an average of 3.4 years in prison. Persons with felony charges comprise 88.8 percent of the inmate population. About 80 percent of inmates have a history of substance abuse, and drug sales and drug possession account for 44.7 percent of inmate offenses. Violent crimes have been committed by 30.3 percent of the inmate population, robbery by 15.3 percent, and property crimes by 11.2 percent. Most inmates in the D.C. correctional system are black males. The cost of incarcerating an inmate averages $59 per day, or $22,000 annually. Inmates are offered a wide range of programs to improve basic and job skills and achieve educational advancement. In 1992, for example, more than 600 inmates participated in correctional industry programs. The department is providing community-based rehabilitation services to a growing number of probationers, parolees, and ex-offenders in order to reduce recidivism. Services include halfway houses, parolee monitoring, third-party custody, home detention, electronic monitoring, and day reporting centers. Profiles of correctional facilities and community correctional centers are included, and alternatives to incarceration release programs are described.