Inmate Search for District Of Columbia - Jails in District Of Columbia

Search for a jail or detention center in Washington, DC

Washington, DC jails and detention centers

Washington, DC is not a state and it has no counties. There is no sheriff’s jail and no city lockup that holds someone for weeks. Adult custody on a D.C. case belongs to the Department of Corrections. The jail complex sits in Southeast, at 1901 D Street and 1901 E Street SE. Two buildings share that campus. The Central Detention Facility, still called the D.C. Jail, holds men. The Correctional Treatment Facility next door holds women and specialized men’s units. A third site, the Central Cell Block, is a short-term court holding unit, not a jail.

Jails in the District do not keep felony sentences. Lorton closed in 2001 under the National Capital Revitalization Act. A person sentenced in D.C. Superior Court for a D.C. Code felony is designated to the Federal Bureau of Prisons and can be sent to a federal prison anywhere in the country. That person is not a federal inmate. The case is local. The bed is federal. Misdemeanors, pretrial holds, and people waiting on a BOP designation stay at the D.C. Jail or the Correctional Treatment Facility.

How many jails are there in Washington, DC?

Two DOC facilities do the work a county jail does elsewhere. The Corrections Information Council inspected both on June 3, 2026. The Central Detention Facility is rated for 2,164 and held 1,432 that day, at minimum, medium, and maximum custody. The Correctional Treatment Facility, opened in 1992, is rated for 1,400 and held 719. On May 7, 2026, the women’s count at CTF was 176. Food service is contracted to Aramark, commissary to Keefe, and medical care to Unity Health Care. The Central Cell Block, inspected the next day, is rated for 107 and held 58 people, 12 of them women, waiting on court. A replacement cell block was about 85 percent built in June 2026. Police districts book and transfer. They do not operate a jail.

Search by the neighborhood or the police district of the arrest. The listing still points to the same campus. There is no ward-by-ward jail.

How many juvenile detention centers are there in Washington, DC?

The Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services runs two secure sites. The Youth Services Center, next to the old D.C. Jail campus, holds youth before a hearing. New Beginnings Youth Development Center, at 8400 River Road in Laurel, Maryland, is the 60-bed facility for committed youth. It is outside the District because that is where the city built the replacement for Oak Hill. The Maya Angelou Academy teaches at both. A youth at the Youth Services Center is usually waiting on Family Court. A youth at New Beginnings has been committed and moves through a six-phase level system. Both are secure, and both schedule family visits.

Search the neighborhood of the arrest. The listing shows the Youth Services Center for a new detention and New Beginnings for a commitment.

What the first days at the D.C. Jail are like

Intake is a queue in a building that has been under outside scrutiny for years: identity, prints, a medical screen, a search, property bagged, one call. The person has not been convicted. The unit still runs on counts. Food is contractor food, the uniform does not fit, and the first night is noisy. Withdrawal from alcohol or opioids can start before the first appearance in Superior Court. Women go to CTF, not to the main jail.

Staff who apply the rules the same way to everyone run a quieter unit. Uneven enforcement is how contraband moves. The jail can separate by custody level. It cannot keep a sentenced felon for the length of a BOP term. Families often learn the person has left the District only after the designation posts.

DOC uses a campus phone, tablet, and deposit system. Those accounts can be shut off. Each District facility page on this site lists the building, the visit rules, and the way to send money before a transfer to the Bureau of Prisons.