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Justice has prevailed at the DC Jail
Watch for more on this soon.
| Click on the photo to read the entire story |
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| Episcopal Diocese of Washington DC reports on Coalition efforts |
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| Rev. Dr. Nancy C. James (r) addresses deputy mayor Reiskin (l) in the DC Mayor's press room |
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| Coalition marchers led by Rev. John Graham and Rev. Dr. Nancy C. James |
Coalition for Justice in the DC Jail Statement
(as delivered by Rev. Dr. Nancy C. James
to Deputy Mayor Edward Reiskin)
Tuesday, October 4, 2005
Litany of Violence and Death
In June 2002 the population cap of 1674 persons is lifted at the DC Jail. The
population balloons up to levels of 2400 persons incarcerated in the DC Jail a facility built for about 1400 persons.
Silence
On December 11, 2002, Givon Pendleton is stabbed nine
times and dies in the dining room of Southeast 1 cellblock in the DC Jail.
Silence
On December 13, 2002, Bradley Autman is slashed in his
neck in Southeast 2 cellblock in the DC Jail. This is considered attempted murder.
Silence
On December 14, 2002, Mikal Gaither is stabbed in the
neck on a walkway in the Northeast 3 cellblock in the DC Jail and dies on December
16, 2002.
Silence.
On December 20, 2003, four persons are shot in the third
tier of a housing unit in the southwest corner in the DC Jail.
Silence
On September 24, 2004, Jonathan
Magbie, a quadriplegic held at the DC Jail, dies because he did not have the ventilator that he needed to breathe at night. Jerry S. Walden, a prison medicine expert, says and I quote “Jonathan Magbie
died a death of neglect.”
Silence
And before God we pray for Givon
Pendleteon, Mikal Gaither, and Jonathan Magbie who died while in our government run District
of Columbia jail.
We pray for justice at the DC jail in the names of these dead and suffering incarcerated people.
Silence
The Coalition for Justice in
the DC Jail gathers today because we believe in the rule of law and the decent treatment of those held in jails and prisons,
especially here in the nation’s capital. We thank you for meeting with us, Deputy Mayor Reiskin. We come together to grieve for those who have died at the DC Jail.
We come to dialogue and plan so these avoidable deaths at the District of Columbia Jail and the extreme overcrowding
at the DC jail may finally be addressed.
Let us look at the recent history at the DC Jail. The City Council passed
the Jail Improvement Act, a law which became effective in January 2004. Mayor
Anthony Williams signed this act into law. One requirement of the Jail Improvement
Act is to establish a legal population cap. Yet, even after this legal process, the Williams administration has failed to
impose a cap on the population of the DC Jail. It has persisted in this failure
despite the requirement of the DC Jail Improvement Act that it do so. As a result, the DC Jail is overcrowded today. The effects of overcrowding – inadequate health care, unsatisfactory response
to inmate grievances, poor environmental conditions, the threat of violence, and killings and deaths – are well known. They are clearly in evidence at the jail today as we prayed for those dead
The City Council required the Mayor to impose this cap in part because
of the two murders of Givon Pendleton and Mikal Gaither and the attempted murder of Bradley Autman that took place at the
jail in late 2002 following the lifting of the federally-imposed population cap. The
death of Jonathan Magbie in 2004 further emphasized the tragic consequences which can ensue when too many people occupy too
little space and overstretch limited resources.
In the recent months of 2005 we watched the drama of Judith Miller, the New York Times reporter incarcerated. She received the special treatment of going to the Alexandria, Virginia, jail.
George Walsh, the U.S. marshall for
the District of Columbia is quoted in the Washington Post
as saying, “the DC jail is extremely overcrowded.”
It is a tragedy for which we are all responsible that Givon Pendleton, Mikal Gaither, and Jonathan Magbie could not
also receive the special treatment of going to the Alexandria, Virginia, jail. We need to run a jail in the
District of Columbia which is safe for all so we do not
need to turn to another state for a safe jail.
We respectfully have some questions for you and pray for an open dialogue.
Does Mayor Williams believe non-compliance with a law duly passed by the council of this city, and which he himself
signed, constitutes acceptable behavior on the part of a public official?
Decent conditions at the jail can only take root if its population is limited.
Decent conditions at the jail affect the entire District of Columbia,
because virtually all who are held at the jail will return to their communities. Does
Mayor Williams accept these premises?
A population cap should be established with all deliberate speed. Does
the Mayor commit to imposing a population cap within one month?
To make sure a cap is established and decent conditions prevail, a citizens’ watchdog group should meet with
the Mayor to review mandated quarterly reports on jail conditions. Will the Mayor
agree to such quarterly meetings?
Thank you for your time and attention.
The Rev. John Graham
The rev. Dr. Nancy C. James
PRESS RELEASE September 23, 2005 - INTERFAITH MARCH
FOR JUSTICE AT THE D.C. JAIL - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Property values rise throughout the city, as does new construction, and expensive rehabs are seen in virtually every
sector; contractors and consultants prosper. But just as the “Big Easy”
of tourists and conventioneers masked the poverty and social tension so vividly revealed by Katrina, the wealth of D.C. hides
the squalor of D.C. Jail, the “taxpayer-supported hellhole on the Anacostia” (so labeled recently by a local journalist).
And even as the Williams administration presides over and benefits from the development boom, it continues to defy the provisions
of the Jail Improvement Act of 2004, signed by the mayor himself. This defiance
of the rule of law allows the D.C. Jail to blight the nation’s capital and further embitter those detained there –
the vast majority of whom will return to the communities from which they came.
The mayor has not established a population cap for the jail despite being explicitly mandated by the Improvement Act
to do so. Bringing jail conditions up to the standards of a civilized society
require the establishment of a cap. Sadly, and shockingly, a court recently dismissed
a lawsuit that sought to require the mayor’s compliance with the population cap requirement and other provisions of
the law. Our democratic concern with the “rule of law” seems not
to extend to the government of the District of Columbia and the laws passed by the elected representatives of its citizens.
To address this abusive and illegal situation, Grace Episcopal Church, Georgetown, has organized a coalition for justice
at the jail. This coalition will sponsor an interfaith march from St. John’s Lafayette Square to the District Building
beginning at 10 a.m. on October 4. October 4 marks the Feast of St. Francis of
Assisi, the beginning of Ramadan I, and Rosh Hashonah. On this special day, we
will bear witness to the common concern of the world’s great faiths for the fair and decent treatment of those held
in jails and prisons, and for the rule of law. We plan to arrive at the Mayor’s
Office at 11 a.m. to present petitions to the mayor strongly urging him to comply with the provisions of the Jail Improvement
Act. We will ask him for a commitment to establishing the population cap, and
to making regular reports to City Council and a group of D.C. citizens on compliance with the Jail Improvement Act.
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This is a free event.
For further information
please contact Rev. John M. Graham, Grace Episcopal Church; 202-333-7100 extension 1; jmg@gracedc.org
Justice for a 'Death of Neglect'
By Colbert I. King
Saturday, September 17, 2005; Page A21
Next Tuesday marks the first anniversary of 27-year-old Jonathan Magbie's final encounter with the D.C. government.
It will be no cause for celebration.
It was on Sept. 20, 2004, that D.C. Superior Court Judge Judith Retchin sentenced Magbie, a quadriplegic since an
accident at age 4, to 10 days in the D.C. jail. His crime? Possession of marijuana.
Five days after falling into the hands of the D.C. government, Magbie was dead. He died a horrible death. It was
preventable. But nobody in the system cared. Looking down from her bench, Retchin saw a first-time offender. He controlled
his wheelchair with a mouth-operated device. He could breathe only with a battery-controlled pulmonary pacemaker. At night
he needed the assistance of a respirator. He could have been sentenced to home detention, where he would have had round-the-clock
attention. Instead, Retchin, apparently upset when Magbie refused to swear off weed, which helped him get through a miserable
existence, sent him to that taxpayer-supported hellhole near the Anacostia River known as the D.C. jail.
Church rallies change for jail
By Arlo Wagner
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Monday June 13, 2005 page B1
A petition drive began yesterday in a downtown Georgetown church, after speakers charged that prisoners were being mistreated
in the crowded D.C. jail.
When the drive is completed, the petitions will be presented to Mayor
A. Anthony Williams, said Philip Fornaci, executive director of the Prisoners' Legal Services Project...The Rev. Nancy C.
James, an associate priest at Grace Episcopal, worked for one year in the D.C. correctional system, mostly the women's jail,
while studying for her divinity degree. She also worked at Lorton Reformatory.
"It's horrific.
It's a disgrace to our city," she said. "They need to build another facility and get some treatment for drug victims."
http://www.washingtontimes.com/metro/20050612-103149-8469r.htm
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D.C. Jail Conditions
Unchanged Despite Law; Williams Administration Criticized on Compliance; |
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Serge F. Kovaleski. The Washington Post. Washington, D.C.: Apr 24, 2005. pg. C.01 |
Copyright The Washington Post Company Apr 24, 2005
Mayor Anthony A. Williams and the Department of Corrections have failed
to comply with a 14-month-old law negotiated with the D.C. Council to improve conditions and operations at the District's
main jail after the stabbing deaths of two detainees and other inmate violence.
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MEDIA ADVISORY
Contact: Rebecca Wilson, 330-524-2067, rswilson@raex.com
Local Priest, FORMER LORTON REFORMATORY TEACHER
SPEAKS OUT AGAINST CONDITIONS AT DC JAIL
WHO:
The Rev. Dr. Nancy James, priest associate at St. John’s Episcopal Church Lafayette Square and Grace Church Georgetown, taught
and counseled inmates at Lorton Reformatory. Her recently published book, Standing
in the Whirlwind (The Pilgrim Press 2005), chronicles some of her experiences with the inhumane conditions in the DC Jail.
She is currently active in the movement to urge to the City to abide by the Jail Improvement Act of 2003.
WHAT: The Rev. Dr. James is available for media interviews
about the DC Jail both by appointment and at an event, "Caring for Those in Jail and Prison and for their Communities: Focus on the DC Jail," hosted by Grace Church Georgetown.
WHERE:
Event at Grace Church Georgetown, 1041 Wisconsin Avenue,
Georgetown
WHEN: Event on Sunday, June 12, 4 PM-6 PM; interviews also available by appointment
Standing in the Whirlwind has been endorsed and praised by many Washington
D.C. leaders including Episcopal Bishop John Chane and E. Ethelbert Miller, director of the
African American Resource
Center at Howard University. It has been reviewed in the Washington
Post, the Hill Rag, the Washington City
Paper and the Washington Window, the newspaper of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington.
Nancy James is currently priest associate at St. John’s Lafayette Square and Grace Church Georgetown and an adjunct professor
at American University.
She holds an M. Div. from Virginia Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University
of Virginia. She lives in Washington
DC with her family.
"Caring for Those in Jail and Prison and for their Communities: Focus
on the DC Jail,” will include an ecumenical prayer service at 4 p.m.; a talk by Philip Fornaci, director of DC Prisoners
Project at 4:20 PM; and a poetry reading and jazz recital at 4:45 PM. Refreshments and a petition to the Williams administration
will be available.
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Grace Episcopal Church
1041 Wisconsin Avenue Northwest
Washington, D.C.
20007
202-333-7100
Rev. John M. Graham, Rector
jmg@gracedc.org
September 2005
TO: The Honorable Anthony Williams, Mayor, The District of Columbia
We, the undersigned, strongly urge you and your administration to bring the District of Columbia into thorough compliance with its own statute, the D.C. Jail Improvement
Act of 2003. Under your administration, the District has been in violation
of the following provisions since January 2004:
1. Establishing a cap on the D.C.
Jail population at no more than 2,061 people;
2. Submitting quarterly reports to
the D.C. Council regarding environmental problems and inmate grievances, beginning January 2004;
3. Releasing no inmates after 10:00
pm and before 7:00 am; and
4. Enabling the Department of Health to conduct three annual environmental inspections of the Jail.
The District
has not complied with any of these requirements. According to an article in the
Washington Post’s Metro section on April 24, no population cap has been established, only one quarterly report has been
submitted, and only one environmental inspection has been carried out. Further,
hundreds of people have been released after 10:00 p.m. over the past year. We
have confirmed this information through our own investigation of events.
Mayor Williams,
we know you to be a person of faith. The D.C. Jail Improvement Act only requires
that we take into account the teaching of all the great faiths represented by the people of this city: that God cares for the stranger, the exile, the outcast and those in prison; that we should, while recognizing
the need for their secure confinement and the protection of the broader community, treat those in prison with compassion and
with a decent respect for the dignity of all and the opinion of humankind; and that God will and does judge us on how well
we do this.
This religious
teaching carries practical consequences if it is heeded, and if it is ignored. We
know that chances for a successful re-integration of former inmates increase when decent jail conditions are established and
monitored, and decrease when poor and even abusive conditions are allowed to take hold.
It scarcely needs to be said that successful re-integration benefits our city, and that the failure to re-integrate
those once incarcerated threatens the public safety.
We are greatly
distressed by comments attributed to District officials that you do not plan to comply with the law, exacerbating conditions
in the Jail. Sometimes, political calculations dismiss the incarcerated and their
loved ones as a powerless constituency. Such calculations are both immoral and
imprudent. Please know that many citizens, we among them, believe this to be
a matter of considerable importance – spiritually, practically and legally – and that we expect your administration
to find the time, energy and resources to address it.
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