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When Brittany Vazquez first started working at the DC Jail, her new co-workers would ask how she was adjusting. Her response, she says, was always the same.
“I can’t believe there is a place that makes Rikers Island look good,” she would say.
Vazquez worked in the jail for a little less than a year as a clinical case manager. Before that, she worked for about two years in the notorious New York City jail complex on Rikers Island. In the latest installment of Inside Voices, Vazquez writes about her experience working for the D.C. Department of Corrections, and in particular their over use of solitary confinement. She writes:
I observed DOC’s frequent use of solitary confinement not just as a means to address serious infractions, but also as the default placement for people who expressed concern for their safety or who were experiencing a mental health crisis. People in solitary confinement in the DC Jail are typically held in a single cell for 23 hours a day; they are allowed one hour out of the cell for exercise and showers. … If an individual says they feel unsafe in general population, including for their sexual orientation or gender identity, that person is placed in “protective custody” and locked in a cell alone for 23 hours per day.
A bill pending before the D.C. Council would significantly limit the use of solitary confinement in the DC Jail, as other jurisdictions have done in recognition of the detrimental impacts on people in custody. But, as Vazquez writes, in order to implement some of the bill’s provisions, DOC should hire more mental health care providers and correctional officers, offer higher pay and benefits for those hard-to-fill positions, and require crisis intervention training for staff.
To read more about Vazquez’s experience working in the DC Jail, read her full account on our website.
—Mitch Ryals (tips? [email protected])
- As the protest of the war in Gaza on George Washington University’s campus enters its second week, GW police officers cut down a Palestinian flag from a flagpole near the encampment. GW’s media relations office said hoisting the flag was an “aggressive act of lawlessness.” Meanwhile, D.C. police Chief Pamela Smith is defending her decision not to clear the encampment, despite pleas from the university to do so. Police in cities across the country have taken a different approach, often getting into violent confrontations with campus protesters. [GW Hatchet, NBC Washington]
- The annual World Embassy Tour starts this weekend. Get in line early if you can. [Post, Washingtonian]
- Kids with toy guns shot soft gel pellets at students outside Alice Deal Middle School this week. It’s part of a new TikTok trend called the Orbeez Challenge. But some of the toy guns look real, causing concern among parents and students. [Axios]
- You can smoke weed on (some) public patios in D.C. this summer. A new law allows for licensed retailers to open outdoor spaces (called Summer Gardens) for stoners to light up. Some retailers can also get approved to offer tastings and cooking classes. [Axios]
By City Paper Staff (tips? [email protected])
- After a quiet few months, there appears to be serious movement in the effort to redevelop the RFK stadium site: Federal officials have given the go-ahead for the long-delayed demolition of the old stadium. And Mayor Muriel Bowser is lobbying Congress to attach legislation allowing the land’s redevelopment to a massive, unrelated bill that will soon pass. [Post, WTOP, Axios]
- Budget cuts are forcing the Public Defender Service of D.C. to furlough all of its employees for one day a week this summer. The federally funded agency needs Congress to make a change to its budget to free up money previously allocated for moving expenses and redirect it to personnel. [NBC Washington]
- Hundreds of child care workers headed to the Wilson Building Friday morning to urge the Council to restore a fund delivering them badly needed raises that were cut from Bowser’s budget. Council Chair Phil Mendelson has pledged to do so, but two dozen childcare facilities still opted to open late or close for the day entirely as a means of raising awareness about this issue. [WUSA9, WJLA]
By Alex Koma (tips? [email protected])
- The Kentucky Derby is this Saturday. Lots of local bars are hosting parties, if that’s your thing, including American Ice Co, Jack Rose, Hi-Lawn, Duke’s Grocery in Navy Yard, and Barrel. This year, former Nats outfielder Jayson Werth’s 3-year-old colt, Dornoch, is running. [Axios]
- Where to get the best bloody marys in the D.C. area. This writer can personally recommend Buffalo and Bergen’s take on the savory breakfast cocktail, which comes with lox and cream cheese bagel on top. [Eater]
By City Paper staff (tips? [email protected])
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Spooky Action’s Frontiéres sans Frontiéres Is Satirical, Surreal, and Overwrought
Loud, pointedly delivered farts might seem out of place in a play about three stateless […]
By Sarah Marloff (tips? [email protected])
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