Norton Announces Major State-of-the-Art Drug Program for D.C. Prison Inmates (1/15/08)
Norton Announces Major State-of-the-Art Drug Program for D.C. Prison Inmates
January 15, 2008
Washington, DC-Following continuing insistence by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), the U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has opened its invaluable drug treatment program to D.C. residents. BOP officials informed Norton that they have complied with her request to admit residents to the program by the beginning of this year and have opened the program immediately to D.C. prisoners in all its facilities while regulations are being finalized. "This program is key to eliminating drug abuse, the chief cause of recidivism for D.C. offenders," Norton said. "Without it, the potential for criminal activity and unemployment among returning inmates will remain." Two-thirds of D.C. prisoners who had their parole revoked were returned to prison for drug-related offenses. Last month, Norton wrote to BOP Director Harley Lappin, protesting what she called "unconscionable delays" in implementing regulations to admit D.C. inmates, the only BOP prisoners excluded from the highly effective state-of-the-art 500-hour drug treatment program, with a built-in incentive of eligibility for a possible one year reduction in the sentences of nonviolent inmates upon successful completion.
Norton exposed the delay after the first hearing on D.C. prisoners in BOP last year that she got, following the change in control of the House. She complained that it had been almost two-and-half years since the D.C. Council passed the necessary legislation in May of 2005 to pave the way for D.C. inmates to participate in the drug program. BOP first delayed drafting a federal rule to comply with the District's provision. Then, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) exacerbated the delay by failing to sign-off on what BOP finally sent over for review in November of 2006. There was yet another delay as final approval did not come from OMB until October 20, 2007, only after Norton got the hearing on prison services. Although BOP still has not finalized the regulations, Norton said that she greatly appreciates the BOP action in issuing permission for D.C. prisoners in facilities throughout the country to participate, pending final issuance of the regulations.
Norton has begun the first comprehensive investigation of conditions and services for the 7,000 D.C. inmates in federal institutions, and the first federal oversight since the city transferred its prison system to the federal government 10 years ago. However, she focused on the BOP drug program as a priority. Norton has been critical of the usual approaches to reducing D.C.'s high crime rate, such as adding more and more police, with "insufficient analysis of known major origins of crime, such as drug abuse, and neglect of a detailed look at practices elsewhere that have successfully targeted the source of crime." Norton's examination thus far has included recent visits to a BOP facility in Cumberland, Maryland and to Rivers Correctional Institution, a private prison in Winton, North Carolina that BOP contracts to house D.C. offenders; a video conference town hall meeting in D.C. involving District residents and inmates at Rivers; and a congressional hearing on October 16, 2007. Hearing testimony confirmed that D.C. inmates receive unequal access to services, especially drug treatment. This year Norton will concentrate on equalizing services at Rivers the only private BOP contractor.