Norton Demands Drug Treatment Delayed for D.C. Inmates by the Beginning of the Year (12/4/07)

Washington, DC-The Office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today released a letter she wrote to U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Director Harley Lappin, protesting BOP's "unconscionable delays" in implementing regulations that would allow nonviolent D.C. inmates in federal prisons to participate in a 500-hour drug treatment program and make them eligible for a possible one year reduction in their sentence upon successful completion. In her letter, Norton formally requested that BOP institute new rules within 30 days to open the program to inmates from the District as soon as possible. Currently, offenders from D.C. are the only BOP prisoners not allowed to take advantage of this state-of-the-art drug treatment program. Norton is concerned that residents are unfairly missing out on an effective substance treatment program, leading to an unnecessarily high rate of recidivism, unemployment, and perhaps criminal activity. Two-thirds of D.C. prisoners who had their parole revoked were sent back to prison for drug-related offenses. "Without appropriate incentives to encourage inmates to participate in this valuable program, drug abuse--the chief cause of recidivism--will continue, along with the potential for criminal activity and unemployment among inmates," Norton said.

At a hearing on October 16, 2007, Lappin agreed to implement the drug treatment program and to equalize other services for the 800 D.C. offenders BOP houses at the Rivers Correctional Institution, a private prison in Winton, North Carolina. Norton complained in her letter that for almost two and a half years since the D.C. Council passed the necessary legislation in May of 2005, "this important issue has lingered unconscionably without resolution." 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 for review in November of 2006. There was yet another delay as final approval did not come from OMB until October 20, 2007, after Norton got a hearing on prison services before the House Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia.

Norton has begun the first comprehensive investigation of conditions and services for 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. Her examination has included recent visits to a BOP facility in Cumberland, Maryland and to Rivers in North Carolina, and a video conference town hall meeting in D.C. involving District residents and inmates at Rivers. Hearing testimony confirmed that D.C. inmates receive unequal access to services, especially drug treatment. She expects that commitments and concessions made by BOP officials at the hearing will equalize conditions for D.C. inmates, including revision of the BOP contract with Rivers for a new drug treatment program. The full text of Norton's letter follows.

December 4, 2007

Harley G. Lappin, Director

Bureau of Prisons

Washington, DC

Dear Director Lappin:

I am greatly concerned about yet another inordinate delay in producing the final rule that allows access by non-violent, D.C. Code offenders to the certified 500 hour residential drug treatment program at Bureau of Prisons (BOP) facilities, with the possibility of receiving a sentence reduction of up to one year upon successful completion. This legislation, involving the necessary change by the District of Columbia Council, became effective more than two and a half years ago on May 24, 2005. Your office delayed publishing the rule more than a year until November 6, 2006. An additional delay followed in obtaining the final approval of the Office of Management and Budget until October 20, 2007 only after we announced that Congress would hold the first hearings on the treatment of D.C. residents in BOP facilities. For almost two and one half years, this important issue has lingered unconscionably without resolution.

At our October 16, 2007 hearing titled "Doing Time-Are D.C. Prisoners Being Adequately Prepared for Re-Entry with Equal Access to BOP Services?," you explained to the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia that your office was in the process of finalizing the regulations. Almost two and one half years later no final regulations have been issued by your office. As you know, currently D.C. Code offenders are the only BOP inmates excluded from the 500 hour drug treatment process. This denial of access undoubtedly is related to the 65% of D.C. inmates who have had their parole revoked and were recommitted to prison for drug-related offenses. Without appropriate incentives to encourage inmates to participate in this valuable program, the chief causes of recidivism, drug offenses and abuse will continue, along with the potential for criminal activity and unemployment among inmates.

In light of the delays in moving the needed regulations forward, I must formally request that you implement the new rules within 30 days, and that a notice of your implementation be sent to the Subcommittee and to my office.

In addition, I appreciate that at our hearing, you agreed to implement a certified 500-hour residential drug rehabilitation program at the Rivers private prison facility, where 831 D.C. Code offenders are currently incarcerated, in order to eliminate inequalities between certified programs at BOP facilities and others offered at Rivers as soon as is practical and possible. I understand that the necessary implementation will take time to accomplish and therefore request that you forward to the Subcommittee and to me a report within 30 days on the process you are undertaking to accomplish this goal, your progress thus far, and the time frame you have fixed for this process.

Sincerely,

Eleanor Holmes Norton