District Court Judge Orders Inspectors to Return to DC Jail

By D.C. Witness Staff - April 29, 2020
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Two court-appointed inspectors who confirmed health and safety issues about COVID-19 conditions at the DC Jail are being sent back to see if anything’s changed. 

District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued the order April 28, sending Grace M Lopes and Mark Jordan back to the jail to answer specific questions:

• How inmates who are not being quarantined are able to access medical care?
• How residents in quarantine and isolation units are being monitored?
• Is the DC DOC providing consistent and reliable access to legal calls, personal telephone calls, running water, daily showers and clean clothing and linens for inmates in isolation?
• Do inmates have access to cleaning materials and equipment?
• Is DC DOC enforcing social distancing?
• Have staff received training on properly fitting personal protective equipment (PPE), disposing PPE and operations for the non-touch, infrared thermometers?
• Has the DC DOC gotten a registered sanitarian to oversee an environmental health and safety programs?
• Has the DC DOC contracted a cleaning service for the secure side of the facility?
• Has the DC DOC consulted with a public health professional to strengthen the COVID-19 education program for staff and inmates?
• If DC DOC has consulted with a health professional, have strategies for the education program been implemented?

The inspectors are ordered to give an oral report on May 11 and a written report on May 20. 

Four DC Jail inmates, Edward Banks, D’Angelo Phillips, Eric Smith and Keon Jackson, filed a lawsuit against the DC DOC’s director and warden on March 30, claiming that the DC DOC willfully disregarded the inmates’ health and safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. Jackson is no longer a part of the lawsuit because he was released on bail.

On April 20, after Lopes and Jordan’s first report, Judge Kollar-Kotelly granted part of the plaintiffs’ temporary restraining order for injunctive relief against DC Jail, agreeing that DC DOC has failed to take adequate precautions for the safety of prisoners during the pandemic emergency. 

In addition to ordering the inspectors to provide an update on conditions at the jail’s facilities, Judge Kollar-Kotelly ordered the inmates’ amended motion for a preliminary injunction to be delivered  by May 15; a response from the DC DOC, that is being represented by the DC Office of the Attorney General and a private law firm, is due by May 22 and the inmates reply to that by May 26.