Title 24, Prisoners and Their Treatment.

The drug testing policy shall be issued in advance to inform employees and allow them the opportunity to seek treatment. Thereafter, any confirmed positive test results or a refusal to submit to the test shall be grounds for termination of employment in accordance with subchapter…

(a) The Director of the Department of Corrections (“Director”) shall conduct, on a biennial basis, National Crime Information Center (“NCIC”) criminal background investigations on all Department employees including non-probationary employees. (b) At the Director’s discretion, the…

(a) In Fiscal Year 2017 and each fiscal year thereafter, of the annual funds available to the Office of Victim Services and Justice Grants ("Office"), no less than $125,000 shall be awarded to an organization that assists individuals currently in the custody of or recently releas…

(a) Every person whose conduct complies with institutional rules and who demonstrates a desire for self-improvement by successfully participating in an academic or vocational program, including special education and Graduate Equivalency Diploma programs, shall earn educational go…

(a) In the discretion of the Director of the Department of Corrections, a person may be allowed meritorious good time credit for performing exceptionally meritorious service or performing duties of outstanding importance in connection with institutional operations. (b) Meritoriou…

Educational and meritorious good time credits shall not reduce the minimum sentence of any person convicted of a crime of violence as defined by § 22-4501, by more than 15%.

(a) A person sentenced for a misdemeanor whose conduct complies with institutional rules shall be eligible to receive good time credits of up to 3 credits per calendar month for good behavior, as prescribed by applicable rules. (b) A person sentenced for a misdemeanor who demonst…

(a)(1) The Mayor shall administer the award of good time credits. (2) The Mayor shall promulgate proposed rules for granting, withholding, forfeiting, cancelling, and restoring good time credits. (3) The proposed rules shall be submitted to the Council of the District of Columbia…

(a) Every person shall be given credit on the maximum and the minimum term of imprisonment for time spent in custody, or on parole in accordance with § 24-406, as a result of the offense for which the sentence was imposed. When entering the final order in any case, the court shal…

The award of good time credits for good behavior and faithful performance of duties may be forfeited, withheld, and restored by the Director, in accordance with rules promulgated by the Mayor pursuant to § 24-221.02, after a hearing, which shall be conducted in accordance with th…

(a) The Department of Corrections shall: (1) Regularly inform incarcerated persons of all awards, forfeitures, and restorations of good time credits; and (2) Inform the United States Parole Commission of all incarcerated persons: (A) Who are expected to become eligible for releas…

Institutional and educational good time credits shall not be applied to the minimum terms of persons sentenced under § 22-4502, § 48-901.02, § 48-904.01, § 22-2104(b), § 22-2803, or § 22-4504(b).

There is hereby authorized to be established in the District of Columbia a work release program under which any person who is: (1) convicted of a misdemeanor or of violating a municipal regulation or an act of Congress in the nature of a municipal regulation, and is sentenced to …

At the time of imposition of sentence, the probation officers of the court or the Director of the Department of Corrections, may recommend to, or the person sentenced may request, the sentencing court that such person be granted the privilege of work release. At any time subseque…

The Director of the Department of Corrections shall state in writing the terms and conditions under which a person granted work release privileges may be released from actual custody during the time necessary to proceed to the person’s place of employment or other authorized plac…

The Council of the District of Columbia is authorized to promulgate from time to time such rules and regulations as it deems necessary for the administration by the Department of Corrections of the work release program.

(a) The Director of the Department of Corrections may suspend or revoke the work release privilege for any breach of discipline or infraction of institution regulations. The Court may revoke the work release privilege at any time, either upon its own motion or upon recommendation…

The Mayor is authorized to include in individual work release plans provisions for the collection of the wages, salary, earnings, and other income of each gainfully employed prisoner when paid, or require that the same be surrendered when received, less payroll deductions require…

Payments for support pursuant to § 24-241.06 shall be made through the clerks of the respective courts. In cases where there is no outstanding court order of support or judgment against the prisoner, the Director, Department of Public Welfare, or his designated agent, shall, afte…

The Attorney General of the United States may, in order to carry out the purposes of this subchapter, designate the Mayor as his authorized representative to perform the functions vested in him by § 24-201.26.

(a) As used in this subchapter the term “Mayor” means the Mayor of the District of Columbia or his designated agents. (b) Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed so as to affect the authority vested in the Commissioners by Reorganization Plan No. 5 of 1952 (66 Stat. 824). T…

Except when employed and paid by the District of Columbia for the performance of work for the District of Columbia government, no prisoner employed in the free community under the provisions of this subchapter shall, while working in such employment in the free community or going…

(a) For the purposes of this subchapter, the term: (1) "Committee" means an institutional review committee established pursuant to § 24-251.06. (2) "Department" means the Department of Corrections. (3) "Director" means the Director of the Department of Corrections, or the Directo…

(a) The Director may grant a resocialization furlough to any eligible resident for the purposes specified in this subchapter and according to the procedures provided for in this subchapter. The decision to grant or deny a furlough shall not be made on the basis of rewarding a res…

(a) The Director may grant a furlough, except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, to any eligible resident: (1) In order to visit the bedside of a dying relative, or to attend the funeral of a relative, in the Washington metropolitan area; (2) Upon the recommendation o…

(a) Each caseworker or counselor on the staff of the Department who is assigned to investigate an application for a furlough shall: (1) verify the reasons given by the applicant for the furlough; (2) determine whether the furlough requested and the applicant meet the requirements…

(a) Residents being released on furlough shall be reported as “furloughed” on appropriate Departmental records and statistical forms, identifying such movement as a furlough. Because time spent on furlough is creditable toward the service of a sentence, such status will not precl…

There shall be established, within each facility and institution of the Department, an institutional review committee composed of a psychologist, a senior correctional officer, and an academician. Each committee shall be appointed by the Director. It shall be the function of each…

The Director shall submit to the Council’s Committee with jurisdiction over the Department, semiannually (on January 31st and July 31st of each year), a report on the furlough program conducted during the immediately preceding period. The report shall include the number of furlou…

If any section or provision of this subchapter is held to be unconstitutional or otherwise invalid in its application to any person or circumstance, such unconstitutionality or invalidity shall not affect the applicability of that section or provision, or the applicability of the…

For the purposes of this subchapter, the term: (1) “CTF” means the Correctional Treatment Facility. (2) “Deadly force” means force which would likely cause death or serious bodily injury. (3) “Non-deadly force” means force that normally would neither cause death nor serious bodil…

(a) A private correctional officer may carry firearms provided by the private operator only in the following situations: (1) While patrolling the perimeter grounds of the CTF or any other privately-operated prison facility; (2) While transporting inmates assigned to the CTF or to…

(a) In order to register firearms, the private operator shall follow the following procedures: (1) To register for interim approval, the private operator shall provide the Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (“Chief of Police”) with the serial numbers and storage places o…

A health professional shall remain covered by § 3-1201.04 if the following criteria are met: (1) The health professional is transferred from employment by the District government to employment by a private operator to perform essentially the same services as the person performed …

(a) An inmate confined in the CTF shall be deemed to be at all times in the legal custody of the Department of Corrections. Only the Department of Corrections shall have authority to transfer or assign inmates into or out of the CTF. All laws and regulations governing conduct of …

(a) The private operator shall protect, defend, indemnify, save, and hold harmless the District, its officers, agents, servants, employees, and volunteers from and against any and all claims, demands, expenses, and liability arising out of or relating to acts or omissions of the …

(a) Notwithstanding § 1-301.110a, and § 10-801, the Mayor of the District of Columbia is authorized to sell and leaseback, in his discretion, for the best interests of the District of Columbia, the Correctional Treatment Facility, situated on Lot 800 of Square 1112, with a street…

(a) Notwithstanding any other District law, no telephone service provider shall charge a customer a rate for operator-assisted calls made from a penal or correctional institution in the District in excess of the maximum rate determined by the Public Service Commission of the Dist…

In any contract to which the District is a party that is for the holding or incarceration of persons charged or convicted in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, the contract shall prohibit surcharges, commissions, or other financial impositions that are in addition to…

(a) The Department of Corrections (“Department”) shall survey the communications plans used by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and all state prison systems. The Department shall explore additional alternative communication plans with telecommunications companies. The explored alte…

The Public Service Commission shall determine the maximum rate for operator-assisted calls made from phones utilized by incarcerated residents of a penal or correctional institution in the District.

For the purposes of this subchapter, the term: (1) “Administrator” means the warden of the penal institution, the director of a facility under the control of the Department of Corrections, or any designees thereof, including medical and correctional staff. (2) “Confined” means ho…

(a) In any instance that restraints are used on a confined person who is known to be pregnant, the restraints used must be the least restrictive available and the most reasonable under the circumstances. (b) In any instance that the restraints used on a confined person who is kno…

(a)(1) Within 10 days after the Administrator authorizes the use of restraints pursuant to § 24-276.02(b), § 24-276.02(c), or § 24-276.02(d), the Administrator shall submit a written statement to the Director of the Department of Corrections in the case of confined [persons] expl…

(a) The Administrator shall provide notice of the requirements of this subchapter to: (1) The relevant staff at the place of confinement, including: (A) All medical staff; (B) Staff and contractors who are involved in the transport of confined persons of child-bearing age; and (C…

(a) Any incarcerated individual who has been deprived of the rights conferred by this subchapter shall have a private cause of action in any court of competent jurisdiction for damages and such other remedies as may be appropriate. A private cause of action pursuant to this secti…