WASHINGTON – Five men sued the District of Columbia on Monday after being trapped in their cells while another DC Jail resident set fires within the unit, filling it with black smoke. The complaint asserts that the District and its correctional officers acted negligently in their response to the fire, and that the District’s negligence in training and supervising its correctional officers contributed to the failure.
The lawsuit filed today in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia exposes how Alfonzo Forte, Daniel Fleetwood, Kevin Settles, Noah Summers, and Lester Wilkerson were seriously injured due to smoke inhalation from being trapped in their cell during the fire. These residents and the individual who started the fire lived in the therapeutic housing unit specifically designed to address their mental health needs. Jail staff were supposed to pay special attention to this unit because of the mental health needs. Instead, there was no attention.
“I thought that the officers were going to let us burn alive,” said Noah Summers, one of the five plaintiffs and a former DC Jail resident. “We all banged on our doors, and nobody came for hours.”
“The evidence shows this fire was avoidable,” said Leslie Faith Jones, supervisory counsel for the prisoners’ rights team at the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, who represents the plaintiffs. “Before, during and after the fire, these corrections officers showed a callous disregard for the safety of DC Jail’s most vulnerable residents.”
The 38-page complaint details the events of September 15, 2023, when a DC Jail resident— who had spent 12 hours crying for help from unavailing correctional officers—used a box fan from the hallway and the electrical outlet outside his cell to start a massive blaze, which ultimately required the evacuation of the entire housing unit.
The fire alarms failed to activate, and correctional officers failed to respond to the fire. Residents even tried to use their tablets to draw Jail staff’s attention to the blaze and were forced to use towels and linens to try to keep the smoke out of their cells. Mr. Settles even wet a makeshift mask in the toilet water from his cell before wrapping it around his head to try to reduce smoke inhalation.
As the fire grew, Jail residents “suffered severe discomfort and physical injuries from excessive smoke inhalation, such as lasting breathing impairment, respiratory damage and psychological distress from being trapped in close proximity to an active fire for an extended time in fear for their lives,” according to the complaint.
“DC’s correctional officers owe the residents of the DC Jail a duty of reasonable care for their safety,” said Ian A. Herbert at Miller & Chevalier Chartered, counsel for the plaintiffs. “In this incident, DC Jail staff breached that duty, trapping residents of the jail for hours as a fire burned on their unit. We will hold corrections officers, supervisors and the District accountable for their negligence.”
The complaint details a long, well-documented history at DC Jail of chronic and severe understaffing, inadequate staff supervision and training, and systemic neglect of residents. As of 2025, the death rate at DC Jail (including suicides, murders, and overdoses) was more than 3.5 times the national average. “The District has known for well over a decade that its correctional staff do not reliably identify, respond to, or escalate residents’ threats of suicide and self-harm in accordance with DOC’s own policies,” the complaint alleges.
“For years, jail residents, family members, lawyers, community advocates, and even government officials have been sharing stories and raising concerns about dangerous conditions and policies in the DC Jail,” said Misty Thomas Zaleski, Executive Director at the Council for Court Excellence. “Many incidents and ongoing problems have also been documented in inspection reports, audits, public testimonies, grievances, and lawsuits – including the fire that is the subject of today’s new complaint. It is important that incidents like this get the sunlight they deserve so that they can be fairly adjudicated and remedied to ensure the health and safety of all who step foot in the jail.” The complaint cites reports and audits by the Council for Court Excellence.
The plaintiffs are represented by Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs and Miller & Chevalier Chartered. The complaint is redacted due to a protective order governing the use of documents obtained insuccessful FOIA litigation between the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs and the DC Office of the Attorney General.
Read the redacted complaint here.
Read Council for Court Excellence reports here.
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