Norton to Focus on Halfway House Links to DC Public Safety (2/1/2010)

Norton to Focus on Halfway House Links to D.C. Public Safety

February 1, 2010

WASHINGTON, DC - Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will examine services for D.C. residents returning from federal prisons, where D.C. felons are housed, to the District's three federally-contracted halfway houses at a hearing, "Half Way Home to the District: The Role of Halfway Houses in Reducing Crime and Improving Prisoner Re-entry in the Nation's Capital," on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 10 a.m., in the Rayburn House Office Building, rm. 2154, held by the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia. A former D.C. halfway house client and D.C. halfway house operators will be among the witnesses who will testify.

Responsibility for the District's halfway houses was transferred from the District government to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) in 1997. BOP contracts with private companies to operate the halfway houses. The Congresswoman visited all three halfway houses in the District in preparation for this hearing. Last month, she visited the Hope Village halfway house, a 360-bed facility in Ward 8, and the Efforts from Ex-Convicts halfway house, a 40-bed facility in Ward 2, both for men, and last year she visited Fairview halfway house, a 56-bed facility for women in Ward 7. The halfway houses accommodate prisoners returning from federal prisons and from the District of Columbia Department of Corrections.

At the hearing, the Congresswoman will examine halfway house practices, policies, and services. Witnesses will include Adrienne Poteat, acting director, Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency; Louis Eichenlaub, Mid-Atlantic regional director, BOP; Nancy LaVigne, director, Justice Policy Center, The Urban Institute; Charles Reynolds, CEO, The Fairview Adult Rehabilitative Center; Jeffrey Varone, CEO, Hope Village; and Michael White, a former Hope Village resident.