Norton Gets First Hearing on D.C. Women in Prison Since Feds Asked to House D.C. Prisoners

Norton Gets First Hearing on D.C. Women in Prison Since Feds Asked to House D.C. Prisoners

WASHINGTON, DC - The Office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced that the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia, on which Norton serves, will hold a hearing that Norton requested entitled Female D.C. Code Felons: Unique Challenges in Prison and At Home, Tuesday, July 27, at 10:00 a.m. in 2154 Rayburn. "This hearing marks the first time that Congress has held a hearing focusing specifically on women since the District transferred their cost and custody of D.C. code felons to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) thirteen years ago," said Norton. "The number of women felons is very small compared with men, but female incarceration has a disproportionate ripple effect on their families and especially on their children. What sends these women to prison, what they need while incarcerated, and what happens when they return home are often very different for women than for men." The hearing will examine how BOP and other federal agencies, as well as community service providers are meeting the unique needs of female D.C. Code felons during incarceration and after their release from prison. In addition to government officials and experts, two former female BOP inmates from D.C., Zandononi Day and Juanita Bennett, will also testify at tomorrow's hearing.

When the District's Lorton Correctional Complex closed in 2001, all D.C Code felons were placed in BOP facilities. Today, an estimated 5,600 D.C. Code felons are housed in 115 facilities, which are located in 33 states and the District of Columbia. Of these 5,600 D.C. Code felons, 248 are women. Norton is particularly concerned about female inmates who, like males, are often housed at great distances from the District, but women face child custody issues, have medical and other gender-based needs, and experience post-release issues that often do not fit the male prison model.

In a number of hearings on BOP and D.C. inmates, Norton is seeking answers to unprecedented issues raised by housing state prisoners in federal facilities for the first time. These issues range from ensuring that D.C. Code felons have the same access as other federal prisoners to BOP programs, on which Norton has had considerable success, to the special difficulty of keeping D.C. Code felons connected to their families here, a priority Norton believes the hearings are helping to resolve. "We want to learn how to best address the specific needs of the female D.C. prison population to ease reentry into society and ultimately lower recidivism rates," Norton said.

WHO: House Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia

WHAT: Female D.C. Code Felons: Unique Challenges In Prison and At Home

WHERE: 2154 Rayburn House Office Building

WHEN: Tuesday, July 27, 10:00 a.m.