Testimony delivered on February 4th, 2026
Chairperson Pinto and members of the committee, and committee staff, thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Diontre Davis, and I am a State Policy Fellow at the DC Fiscal Policy Institute (DCFPI). DCFPI is a non-profit organization that shapes racially-just tax, budget, and policy decisions. We center Black and brown communities in our research and analysis, community partnerships, and advocacy efforts to advance an antiracist, equitable future.
I am here today to speak on the need for more oversight of the administration of criminal-legal fines and fees in the Department of Corrections (DOC). DCFPI urges this committee to request a comprehensive assessment of the fines and fees DOC charges to better understand the financial burdens they impose on the residents of DOC and their families, who often cover such costs.
DOC Fines and Fees Disproportionately Harm Black Residents
The use of criminal-legal fines and fees within the criminal justice system disproportionately harms Black residents with low incomes. In 2024, 87.8 percent of people in DOC facilities were Black due to systemic racism.[1],[2] This means that the bulk of DOC fines and fees collections comes from Black DC residents.
Many fees charged to DOC residents are too much for the residents to pay on their own, since they earn a maximum wage of $.50 per hour and $3 to $4 per day.[3] The cost of purchasing meals from DOC’s commissary is $3.56 per day based on fiscal year (FY) 2023 to FY 2024 data shared by DOC. This expense already takes up most of a DOC resident’s earnings, without factoring in other commissary items, such as clothing and hygienic products. For example, clothes and shoes can cost up to $50 per purchase.[4]
People incarcerated in DOC facilities rely on the support of their families to make up the difference between their wages and the cost of commissary items just to be able to have basic necessities. This support creates an additional financial strain on Black families who are already struggling to live in the District: the median household income for Black DC households ($59,285) is less than half the estimated income needed to have an adequate standard of living for a household of one adult and two children ($144,999).[5] This likely means that the nearly $1.5 million DOC received from commissary fees in FY 2023—the last full year of data available—mostly came from financially vulnerable Black DOC residents and their families.[6]
DOC residents must also pay fees to stay in contact with their loved ones. The current cost for DOC residents to have video visits is $0.16 per minute. A 29-minute video call visit costs approximately $10.[7] These expenses, on top of commissary fees, put DOC residents in a position of choosing between necessities such as food, clothing, and hygiene items and being able to stay connected with loved ones. Just as with commissary fees, it is often Black families who end up having to help pay telecommunication fees for relatives in DOC facilities. DOC residents and their families should not have to pay unreasonable fee amounts just to stay in contact with each other.
Lack of Comprehensive Information from DOC Prevents a Clear Picture of Criminal-Legal Fines and Fees
The most comprehensive reports on DOC fines and fees that are available to the public—the 2015 Special-Purpose Revenue Fund Report and the 2015 Non-Tax Revenue Report—contain information that is more than ten years old. DC law has not required the Office of Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) to produce these revenue reports since then.
The 2015 reports contain outdated, yet important information on fines and fees assessed by DOC. For example, the 2015 Non-Tax Revenue Report shows that DOC collected $10,719 (unadjusted for inflation) in work release fees in FY 2014 from residents living in halfway houses who were required to pay a 20 percent fee if they earned $50 or more per week.[8] This rate is double the current tax rate of the highest income earners.[9] While this fee remains in place today, no recent report details how much DOC has collected in work release fees and from whom.[10]
DCFPI has only been able to find more recent data on DOC fines and fees from responses in previous DOC performance oversight hearings. And that data does not appear to include all fines and fees assessed by DOC. For example, the responses from the 2024 hearing provide data on commissary fees and phone calls, but it does not include the cost of mail or email. More transparency is necessary for the public to understand the full scope of the fees DOC charges its residents.
A Comprehensive Analysis of DOC Fines and Fees Is Necessary to Assess Racial Inequities
It’s clear from the available data that criminal-legal fines and fees cause financial harm to DOC residents and their families by forcing people to bear the cost of their incarceration for minimal or no wages at all. However, without more recent comprehensive reporting from the OCFO on non-tax revenue and special-purpose revenue, the public cannot understand the full extent of these fines and fees and who is paying them. DC courts also share very limited information on the fees they charge. This lack of transparency undermines efforts to ensure that DC does not generate revenue by extracting wealth from Black households.
As a first step toward understanding the racist harm of DOC fines and fees, the Council should require an updated comprehensive analysis of DOC fines and fees. This reporting should include a list of all fines and fees assessed by DOC from FY 2023 through FY 2026 and include the following information for each:
- What is the purpose behind assessing the fine or fee?
- What is the specific amount DOC charges for the fine or fee?
- Who is responsible for paying the fines and fees within DOC?
- What is the total amount of revenue collected from the fine or fee?
- How is the revenue collected being used? Is it for DOC programming purposes or for expenses outside of DOC?
Imposing fines and fees on DOC residents that are disproportionate to the wages they earn pushes the financial penalties of incarceration onto Black DC families. Gaining a deeper understanding of how criminal-legal fines and fees operate within DOC can assist the Council and the public in knowing where additional oversight is warranted. Better understanding can also enable needed policy changes to prevent the financial disenfranchisement of Black DC residents.
