Norton Calls on Bureau of Prisons to Change Policies Harming D.C. Inmates

Press Release

The office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today released Norton's letter to Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Acting Director Thomas R. Kane about her concerns with certain BOP polices that are harming District of Columbia code felons, the only local felons housed by BOP. Norton asked BOP to take action on four specific policies: eliminate or significantly reduce the fee that residents of Residential Reentry Centers (RRCs), or halfway houses, must pay to offset the cost of being housed; change the policy limiting physical contact during a visitation, particularly between a parent and young child, from only the beginning and closing of the visitation; change the visitor dress code; and provide all inmates with the opportunity to receive computer training.

"D.C. inmates already face tremendous challenges due to the unique circumstance of being housed in BOP facilities that are hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of miles away from their families and loved ones," Norton said. "While we have made some initial progress in our fight to have male and female D.C. inmates housed closer to the District, there are several significant steps BOP can take now to facilitate the transition of returning citizens back into civil society and to implement common-sense policies that help ease the already painful separation between inmates and their families."

Last month, Norton introduced a bill (H.R. 2988) to eliminate the requirement that residents at BOP halfway houses pay a subsistence fee of 25 percent of their gross income to offset the cost of being housed.

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