D.C. Mun. Regs. tit. 10-A, § 1117
1117.1 Secure detention facilities, like jails, require significant resources to operate. In many cases, these facilities are not the best way to address the needs of all individuals who require correctional intervention. Less restrictive, yet equally effective alternatives to detention exist.
1117.2 As stated previously, in 2015 DGS released a needs assessment that included space estimates for replacing many public safety facilities, including correctional facilities. The District will explore approaches for renovating and building new correctional facilities, including opportunities for public-private partnerships that can enable efficiencies and cost savings. Such arrangements provide upfront funding that is then paid back by the District over time, with no incentive for a private partner to underdeliver services or incarcerate more persons.
DOC operates the Central Cell Block at 300 Indiana Avenue NW, where over 10,000 arrestees per year who are charged with non-citable offenses are detained prior to arraignment. Most are released to the community after arraignment. It also operates the 41-year-old CDF and the 25-year-old CTF located on the DC General Campus and administers contractual bed space at two community halfway houses. About 7,600 individuals are processed yearly in over 11,000 bookings. DOC provides on-site inpatient care facilities to help those with substance abuse and other health issues. In addition, the District’s Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) provides supervision of those under the age of 18 charged with criminal offenses at the New Beginnings Youth Development Center, located in Laurel, Maryland. This facility opened in 2009, the same year DYRS closed the Oak Hill Youth Center. New Beginnings is a 60-bed facility that provides 24-hour supervision and comprehensive social services grounded in the principles of positive youth justice, including physical and behavioral health care, behavioral modification programs, vocational and life-skills training, educational services, and structured recreational activities.
Provide adequate correctional capacity and resources to ensure safe, secure, orderly, healthy, and humane operation of correctional facilities. The appropriate design, construction, maintenance, operation resources, and staffing of these facilities is necessary to realizing public safety objectives.
Promote the assessment of all individuals to identify the appropriate intervention and to expand non-detention alternatives to jail. These alternatives may include supervised house arrest, day-reporting program-intensive centers, and pre-release centers.
Adopt appropriate information technology systems necessary to support effective operations and related protocols, such as those for medical and legal privacy.
Explore public-private partnerships to fund modernization of correctional facilities and services, including the development of new and remodeled facilities.
Engage the community in the planning and design of correctional facilities and ensure appropriate interagency coordination for alignment across public safety, public health, behavioral health, family/social service, and economic development objectives.
Assess needs and plan for the maintenance and systematic modernization of information systems that support correctional functions in the District, including public safety and health and human services.
Periodically assess the corrections process for effectiveness against desired outcomes and its needs and realign resources to support its public safety objectives accordingly.
SOURCE: District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Act of 1984, effective April 10, 1984 (D.C. Law 5-76; 31 DCR 1049 (March 9, 1984)); as amended by District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Act of 1984 Land Use Element Amendment Act of 1984, effective March 16, 1985 (D.C. Law 5-187; 32 DCR 873 (February 15, 1985)); as amended by District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Amendments Act of 1989, effective May 23, 1990 (D.C. Law 8-129; 37 DCR 55 (January 5, 1990)); as amended by District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Amendments Act of 1989 NCPC-Recommended Amendments, and Closing of Public Alleys in Square 669, S.O. 88-452, Act of 1990, effective May 23, 1990 (D.C. Law 8-132; 37 DCR 2213 (April 6, 1990)); as amended by District Government Land Use Temporary Amendment Act of 1994, effective October 1, 1994 (D.C. Law 10-190; 41 DCR 5360 (August 12, 1994)); as amended by Comprehensive Plan Amendments Act of 1994, effective October 6, 1994 (D.C. Law 10-193; 41 DCR 5536 (August 19, 1994)); as amended by District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Act of 1984 Land Use Amendment Act of 1994, effective March 21, 1995 (D.C. Law 10-235; 42 DCR 30 (January 6, 1995)); as amended by Technical Amendments Act of 1996, effective April 18, 1996 (D.C. Law 11-110; 43 DCR 530 (February 9, 1996)); as amended by Second Technical Amendments Act of 1996, effective April 9, 1997 (D.C. Law 11-255; 44 DCR 1271 (March 7, 1997)); as amended by Comprehensive Plan Amendment Act of 1998, effective April 27, 1999 (D.C. Law 12-275; 46 DCR 1441 (February 19, 1999)); as amended by Technical Amendments Act of 1999, effective April 12, 2000 (D.C. Law 13-91; 47 DCR 520 (January 28, 2000)); as amended by Comprehensive Plan Amendment Act of 2006, effective March 8, 2007 (D.C. Law 16-300; 54 DCR 924 (February 2, 2007)); as amended by Technical Amendments Act of 2008, effective March 25, 2009 (D.C. Law 17-353; 56 DCR 1117 (February 6, 2009)); as amended by Comprehensive Plan Amendment Act of 2010, effective April 8, 2011 (D.C. Law 18-361; 58 DCR 908 (February 4, 2011)); as amended by Comprehensive Plan Amendment Act of 2021, effective August 21, 2021 (D.C. Law 24-20; 68 DCR 006918 (July 16, 2021)).