A men’s halfway house will not be extending its contract with the Federal Bureau of Prisons when it expires at the end of April, and the D.C. delegate is asking the agency for a contingency plan.
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton wants to know if the BOP has a plan to house people returning to D.C. from BOP prisons, after residential re-entry center, or RRC, Hope Village told her it would not seek to extend or renew its contract with the BOP.
“As I have expressed to BOP previously, it is essential that there be an RRC in the District. Your predecessor, Dr. Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, also held this view, and I hope you do, too,” Holmes Norton said in a letter to BOP director Michael Carvajal.
The halfway house helps those recently released from prison to reintegrate into their home community and renew roots, which Holmes Norton said reduces the likelihood of recidivism. It also helps with job search and housing.
Holmes Norton said it is “imperative” the situation be resolved, and it is essential that something similar be provided in D.C. during the coronavirus outbreak.
Holmes Norton wants a quick response from the BOP on what its plans are to house returning citizens in D.C.; where current Hope Village residents will be housed after April 30; how residents will get essential services they need from D.C., such as driver’s licenses that are necessary for employment; and how residents will be moved to their new housing safely during the pandemic.
Following the deaths of two Hope Village residents, Holmes Norton earlier this week called for the release of its residents “as soon as practicable” and asked the BOP to visit the facility.
“Residents should be immediately released whenever possible and appropriate so that they can go home and be safe from the coronavirus, as opposed to being held in close proximity to others in an environment where the virus could easily be transmitted,” Holmes Norton said in a statement Sunday.
BOP said its staff visited Hope Village unannounced on Tuesday, and they reported there was “adequate food and supplies, good hygiene, and sanitary conditions throughout the facility,” according to a letter by BOP assistant director Hugh J. Hurwitz that Holmes Norton shared on her website.
A lawsuit filed against Hope Village, D.C. and the BOP on April 2 alleged that residents at the facility have been forced to sleep in close quarters and bunk beds about 3 feet apart, eat in crowded dining rooms and share bathrooms, which violate guidelines to maintain distance during the coronavirus emergency.
The suit also claimed that residents are forced to clean the facilities themselves, and they are not provided supplies to clean their areas or maintain personal hygiene.
The Bureau of Prisons said there was no evidence to support the claims that residents are neglected and deprived of food, medications or supplies. It is also working to place eligible residents to home confinement and processing applications quickly, prioritizing residents in high-risk categories for COVID-19.
Holmes Norton said that Hope Village, located in Southeast, is the largest federally contracted men’s halfway house in the country and houses both BOP and D.C. Department of Corrections inmates; D.C. Code felons are the only local inmates regularly housed by BOP. It has approximately 300 beds.
The number of coronavirus cases inside correctional facilities across D.C., Maryland and Virginia are rising, while inmates, staff and their families grow more concerned, Capital News Service reported.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser granted early release Friday to some inmates in the DC Jail. And Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said the state is considering similar measures for inmates in its state prisons.
A lawsuit filed last month claims D.C. is failing to take basic public health steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in its jails. The Department of Corrections maintains steps have been taken to reduce the jail population, to provide more room for social distancing within D.C. Jail.
- Virginia DOC confirms first COVID-19 cases among its inmates
- Federal judge seeks quick action in DC jails coronavirus lawsuit
- Inmates rampage through offices, set fires at Kansas prison
