Action Alert

Raise Your Voice to Prevent Health Care Nightmares in the DC Jail

Stop DC from Destroying Community-based Health Care in the DC Jail

red-cross-prisonOn WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, the DC Council will vote on a five-year, $60+ million contract from the DC Department of Corrections to award medical services at the DC Jail and Correctional Treatment Facility (CTF) to Corizon, a for-profit, out-of state company with a terrible track record in other states. A target of litigation, Corizon has been sued almost 700 times in the past five years because of horrific deaths and permanent injuries to men and women in their care. (Click here for examples and here to read a press release from the Washington Lawyers’s Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs and University Legal Services).

If Corizon comes to town, they will replace the existing model of local, community-based care in the jail –– care that links inmates directly to services in the community when they are released. This model of care has been crucial for those we serve and we are deeply troubled by the implications of switching to Corizon for them and for everyone who goes through DC’s justice system.

We strongly believe that replacing the community-based model of care with a for-profit company that has a record of callousness towards those it serves will have a detrimental impact on the health and well-being of some of our city’s most vulnerable residents.

In recent weeks the national focus has been so much on institutional police violence directed to men and women of color. Let us not allow the DC Jail and CTF to become passive extensions of this violence.

It matters very much how we treat the most vulnerable members of our society. It shows what our society is really made of. Corizon does not reflect our true values.

Urge the DC Council to DISAPPROVE the Corizon Contract

Please call your Councilmembers (Ward and At-Large, contact information below) and urge them to vote to AGAINST awarding this contact to Corizon.  You can also easily send email messages to your representatives through this link.

We understand that Council Chair Mendelson and Councilmembers Graham (Ward 1), Wells (Ward 6), and Grosso (At-Large) have voiced their opposition to the contract; you can call and let them know you support their opposition and ask them to speak out at the heaing.

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Council Contact Information

Phil Mendelson – Chair
pmendelson@dccouncil.us
Tel: (202) 724-8032
Fax: (202) 724-8085

David A. Catania – Councilmember (At-Large)
dcatania@dccouncil.us
Tel: (202) 724-7772
Fax: (202) 724-8087

Anita Bonds – Councilmember (At-Large)
abonds@dccouncil.us
Tel: (202) 724-8064
Fax: (202) 724-8099

David Grosso – Councilmember (At-Large)
dgrosso@dccouncil.us
Tel: (202) 724-8105
Fax: (202) 724-8071

Vincent Orange – Councilmember (At-Large)
vorange@dccouncil.us
Tel: (202) 724-8174
Fax: (202) 724-8210

Jim Graham – Councilmember (Ward 1)
jgraham@dccouncil.us
Tel: (202) 724-8181
Fax: (202) 727-8109

Jack Evans – Councilmember (Ward 2)
jevans@dccouncil.us
Tel: (202) 724-8058
Fax: (202) 727-8023

Mary M. Cheh – Councilmember (Ward 3)
mcheh@dccouncil.us
Tel: (202) 724-8062
Fax: (202) 724-8118

Muriel Bowser – Councilmember – (Ward 4)
mbowser@dccouncil.us
Tel: (202) 724-8052
Fax: (202) 741-0908

Kenyan McDuffie – Councilmember (Ward 5)
kmcduffie@dccouncil.us
Tel: (202) 724-8028
Fax: (202) 724-8076

Tommy Wells – Councilmember (Ward 6)
twells@dccouncil.us
Tel: (202) 724-8072
Fax: (202) 727-8054

Yvette M. Alexander – Councilmember (Ward 7)
yalexander@dccouncil.us
Tel: (202) 724-8068
Fax: (202) 741-0911