A man was fatally stabbed at the D.C. Jail on Sunday, authorities said, after an assault that involved a makeshift weapon.
D.C. police said homicide detectives responded to a report of a stabbing at the jail late Sunday morning. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
A Department of Corrections spokesperson said there was “an assault involving two residents and a makeshift weapon” around 11:06 a.m. on Sunday, and one of the involved individuals was pronounced dead 25 minutes later, after lifesaving measures from staff were not successful.
“The DOC maintains a zero-tolerance policy for violence,” said the spokesperson, who added that in addition to the D.C. police investigation, there will be an internal DOC investigation of the incident.
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The DOC did not provide the name of the victim. The department is required to publish notice of resident deaths within three days and at least 24 hours after the decedent’s next of kin have been notified.
The inmate death comes as the Justice Department is investigating D.C.’s Department of Corrections to determine whether the agency has a pattern and practice of violating detainee rights. Among other issues, the inquiry will examine whether the agency has failed to provide safe physical conditions of confinement in the city’s jails. It will also investigate allegations concerning sanitation and nutrition; the DOJ announced the investigation days after a Washington Post story detailed stomach-churning allegations of rats and roaches in food at the jail.
The D.C. jail complex, whose population has steeply risen over the past three years, has also been under scrutiny for a series of deaths in custody. Last year, a report commissioned by the city auditor found that between the summers of 2023 and 2024, people had died in DOC custody at a rate more than three times the national jail average. The most common cause of death during that period was overdoses, according to the report. The report also said that there were at least 580 assaults that involved inmate-on-inmate violence during the yearlong audit period. There were 363 incidents during the yearlong audit period that involved homemade weapons, according to the report, which said that inadequate staffing and outdated jail design could be contributing to the violence.
Sunday’s death was the fourth in D.C. Department of Corrections custody this year, according to public statements from the agency. Marcus Benson, 37, died in May of a fentanyl overdose, according to D.C.’s office of the medical examiner. Another inmate, 70-year-old Thomas Nash, died of cancer in March, according to the medical examiner. Eric Manley, 54, died in January after complications from a seizure disorder due to chronic substance abuse, the medical examiner’s office said.
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