The Justice Department on Monday announced a federal investigation into whether conditions in the D.C. jail violate the Constitution.
“The Justice Department will investigate whether D.C. DOC engages in a pattern or practice of violating prisoners’ and detainees’ constitutional rights,” the Justice Department said in a news release.
The Justice Department said it notified D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) of the investigation into D.C. Department of Corrections facilities. Her office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Washington Post.
“The Constitution protects the rights of every incarcerated American, including those held in custody in our nation’s capital,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in the release.
“We are committed to upholding our federal civil rights laws so that no inmate is confined in unconstitutional conditions or subject to unconstitutional mistreatment at the District of Columbia Department of Corrections,” Dhillon added.
The department said it has received numerous allegations about conditions in D.C. DOC facilities, including failing to protect inmates from use of excessive force, failing to provide adequate medical care, failing to provide safe and sanitary physical conditions of confinement, and failing to provide adequate nutrition.
The investigation comes days after The Post wrote about inmates who filed a class-action lawsuit against the city Thursday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The suit alleges that the jail repeatedly fed inmates food containing mice and insects.
The suit alleges that the frequent presence of vermin in food served to inmates in the D.C. jail constitutes a violation of the Fifth Amendment, which offers protections and standards for people in pretrial incarceration.
The jail garnered national attention when defendants charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol complained about “inhumane” conditions while being held in the facility. For years before that, reports detailed poor conditions in the Southeast Washington facility, including rampant mold, substandard plumbing and inadequate health care.
The post Justice Dept. to investigate whether D.C. jail conditions violate Constitution appeared first on Washington Post.
