District Of Columbia Prisons | DOC | Prison Inmate Search

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DC Department of Corrections - Facilities & Inmate Search

District of Columbia Prisons and Juvenile Facilities

The District of Columbia is not a state, and its corrections system works differently from any state’s. DC has no prison of its own. Adults convicted of felonies under the DC Code serve their sentences in the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), often in federal prisons hundreds of miles from home. What the District does run is a jail: the DC Department of Corrections (DOC) holds people awaiting trial, people serving short misdemeanor sentences and people waiting to be moved to a federal prison.

Why DC sends prisoners to the federal system

For most of the 20th century, DC ran its own prison complex at Lorton, Virginia, about 20 miles south of the city. Its Central Facility opened in 1914, and the Department of Corrections took its modern form in 1946 when the District Jail and Lorton were combined. Lorton became known for crowding and violence, and in 1997 Congress passed the National Capital Revitalization Act, which ordered the District’s sentenced felons moved to the BOP and Lorton closed by the end of 2001. More than 10,000 people were transferred to federal prisons around the country. The last Lorton prison closed on November 19, 2001, more than a month ahead of schedule.

The DC Jail

The DOC runs two connected buildings in Southeast Washington, near the Stadium-Armory Metro station:

Central Detention Facility (CDF), 1901 D Street SE: the original “DC Jail,” opened in 1976, which holds adult men and has room for 2,164
Correctional Treatment Facility (CTF), 1901 E Street SE: opened in 1992 with a capacity of 1,400, which holds all women in DOC custody along with some men and youth charged as adults

The DOC also contracts with private halfway houses for people nearing release. In late September 2025, during a federal law enforcement surge in the city, the jail’s average daily population rose to 2,165, and the number of women held at CTF climbed by about a quarter, reaching 200 or more on some days.

Plans for a new jail

Officials have talked about replacing the CDF for more than 20 years. In 2021 the U.S. Marshals Service inspected the jail, found serious problems and moved hundreds of federal detainees out. A later DC Auditor review found a death rate 3.5 times the national jail average, more than two assaults a day, mold, pests and broken locks and plumbing. The District’s plan calls for a new Correctional Treatment Facility Annex on the jail site next to the CTF, built in stages so the old CDF can be closed. Mayor Muriel Bowser set aside $463 million for the first stage, targeted for completion around 2030, but the project was still in pre-design, and its funding was cut from the fiscal 2026 budget proposal as the city leaned toward a public-private partnership.

Finding someone in custody

For a person serving a DC felony sentence, use the Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator, which searches by name or BOP register number and shows the federal prison where they are held. For someone being held at the DC Jail, call the DOC, and have the person’s full name and DCDC number ready. People released from a DC sentence are supervised by the federal Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency.

No death penalty

DC abolished the death penalty in 1981. When Congress forced a referendum on bringing it back in 1992, District voters rejected it by about two to one. The last execution in DC took place in 1957, in the electric chair. Federal crimes committed in the District can still carry a federal death sentence.

DC juvenile facilities

The Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) is responsible for young people the DC Superior Court Family Division detains or commits. It runs two secure facilities:

Youth Services Center (1000 Mount Olivet Road NE, Washington): DC’s juvenile detention center for boys and girls awaiting court, with 88 beds, expanded to 98 with a new orientation unit. It also holds some youth charged as adults.
New Beginnings Youth Development Center (Laurel, Maryland): a 60-bed secure facility for young people committed to DYRS, which replaced the old Oak Hill Youth Center on the same campus

A 2024 review for the DC Council described high populations at both sites and youth waiting too long for placements. Juvenile records are confidential, so parents and guardians should contact DYRS or their child’s case manager.

To search for an inmate or juvenile, or to learn how to visit, call, write or send money to someone in the DC Department of Corrections or Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, choose a facility from the list below.