The Washington Peace Letter is published monthly for the social justice community of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. It's purpose is to support local, national and international struggles against oppression. It seeks to present a radical analysis of current events, covering information not readily available in the corporate media.

Many in Washington are totally unaware that a movement is afoot to build a prison in D.C. The fix is on for it to be built in Ward 8. Why are we telling you this? Why should you care? You should know how your elected officials have conspired to bring this project about.

How would you feel if you lived in a community that is not only the poorest in D.C., but in the region? Imagine a community plagued by high crime, chronic unemployment, largely uneducated, and unempowered politically. Imagine a community without restaurants or even fast food...a community that his one poorly stocked and over-priced Safeway, which is now slotted for closing. Imagine a place called Ward 8.

Now imagine another place. A place that houses the sewage treatment facility for the entire D.C. region, the Blue Plains Sewage Treatment facility, and also is the home for St. Elizabeth’s Mental Hospital. This place also consists of a large number of poor living in public housing. It is a place bereft of all save the most basic staples without economic development or access to goods and services that most people take for granted. Yes, both places have significant problems, and, yes, both places are Ward 8.

Now imagine the effects of a Prison on the people who live in this area! What kind of message does this send the youth of Ward 8? Our elected officials have kept this information close to the vest, and have been reluctant to address this issue in a public forum. They are depending on the impression that Ward 8 is poor and voiceless.

The truth is the City Council sent a letter, on March 23, 1998, to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) requesting a site placement for a prison in D.C. housing over 2,200 inmates, expressing “strong support” for the idea—knowing that the inside track on the prison site was in Ward 8, at the former site of D.C. Village.

Corrections Corporation of America (CCA.), which hopes to run this prison, for a profit, has already purchased land in the area of the proposed prison (as part of a land swap with the Federal Government). CCA has already requested zoning for a prison. And, perhaps most telling, CCA has made contributions toward the election of city officials. Meanwhile, in an election year, all of our officials are denying responsibility for this turn of events.

Why should you care? We cannot let our officials play this game on Ward 8. Who is next to be sold out to the highest bidder?

No council hearings have been held to discuss this matter. Our elected officials, who have the responsibility to determine public policy for issues impacting its residents, has thus far refused to address the prison siting issue.

By shirking responsibility, the city is letting the Corrections Corporation of America (the current owners of the Youngstown, Ohio, facility [See Peace Letter, May 1998 and September 1998]), determine prison policy and location.
Let’s be fair. Other wards should shoulder their fair burden of DC’s negative projects.

If this project goes through, Ward 8 has the possibility of becoming the District’s first permanently low-income ward. Who would want to move into a community with so many negatives? A dysfunctional Ward 8 will be a drag on the entire city.

Furthermore, this prison would be a private prison. A corporation would make money off of locking up our citizens, which creates a perverse incentive to encourage recidivism.

The building of the prison would send a strong negative message to the young people of Ward 8, who need symbols of hope.

Members of the D.C. City Council have removed themselves from participating in the decision-making process. They say that they have no authority at all over the siting process since jurisdiction ultimately rests with the Bureau of Prisons. Yet BOP officials profess that since the new facility is going to be a “private facility” the District should at least make an effort to manage its interest!

Wake up D.C. officials! For the record, the proper way to site a prison is to:

It is time for all citizens of conscience to stand up against the railroading of the citizens of Ward 8. If we allow a divide and conquer tactic to work, we are dooming ourselves as well as the citizens of Ward 8. If we let the poorest, most disenfranchised people in the District be steamrolled, we will all eventually be targeted, and there will be no one left to unite with in common cause.

John Gloster Jr. is Chairman of the D.C. Statehood Party and Statehood Party candidate for Mayor. Eugene Dewitt Kinlow is with the Far Southwest Civic Association. To get involved, call (202) 563-2131.

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