In April 2023, WLC and our partners filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of incarcerated residents with serious medical needs at the DC Department of Corrections, challenging DOC’s dysfunctional and unconstitutional healthcare system. DC has long been aware of the life-threatening conditions at the DC Jail, dating back to two class actions filed in the early ‘70s, which resulted in nearly a decade of receivership. In March 2020, DOC was sued over its mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic, and during the fall of 2021, the US Marshal’s Service condemned the “systemic failures” at DOC and removed 400 people from their facilities.

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