Testimony delivered on March 18, 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 testifying in support of the Ensuring Access and Supporting Engagement (EASE) for DC Residents Act of 2025. This bill will enable DC residents who are incarcerated in Department of Corrections (DOC) facilities to testify before the DC Council. This bill will also improve the ability of DC residents in DOC facilities to communicate concerns and grievances with the ANC Commissioner representing them. Hearing directly from these DC residents would improve the Council’s ability to conduct oversight on DOC facilities and learn about issues residents face, such as unaffordable fees for commissary, telecommunications, and other services.
DC Residents in DOC Facilities Need the Opportunity to Share Their Grievances Directly with DC Council
Currently, DC residents in DOC facilities effectively lack the ability to testify at Council hearings. The vast majority of these residents are Black (87.8 percent) because of the systemic racism within DC‘s criminal-legal system.[1],[2] Without a way for DC residents in DOC to communicate directly with the Council, lawmakers are suppressing the voices of these mainly Black residents in the legislative process.
DC residents in DOC have many concerns and grievances that are important for the Council to learn about directly. For example, residents have made numerous complaints about the quality, health, nutritional value, and cost of the food in DOC facilities. DOC has claimed that the food served in jail facilities meets the USDA Dietary Guidelines, but residents in DOC dispute these claims.[3] The 2025 audit of the DC Jail reports that 62 percent of those entering the jail ranked food quality as their top concern. In the Correctional Treatment Facility (CTF), 58 percent of residents shared that the food was the greatest issue at the facility.[4] In the beginning of this year, a resident suffered from food poisoning from the jail and had to receive medical treatment. The EASE Act would allow residents to share information like this about concerning conditions in DOC facilities with the Council.
The food poisoning incident also illustrates the difficulty residents in DOC face in reaching the DOC’s ANC Commissioner with their concerns. A DC resident in DOC sent a grievance addressing the situation to the DOC ANC Commissioner, but it took more than one month after the incident for the ANC Commissioner to officially receive it.[5] The process for reaching the ANC commissioner is inefficient and slow. This is because communications from DC residents in DOC are first sent to a middle-person on DOC’s staff and then delivered to the ANC Commissioner. This process causes delays with time-sensitive communications and risk information being lost.[6] The EASE Act would create a more direct means for DC residents in DOC to share their grievances with their ANC Commissioner in a timely manner that would allow for a proper response.
The EASE Act would also facilitate residents’ ability to testify about high fees in DOC facilities. Many fees charged to DC residents in DOC 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.[7] For example, the cost of purchasing meals from DOC’s commissary was $3.56 per day from fiscal year (FY) 2023 to FY 2024.[8] This expense already takes up most of a resident’s earnings, without factoring in other commissary items, such as clothing and personal hygiene products. Clothes and shoes can cost up to $50 per purchase.[9] Additionally, according to the ANC commissioner, DOC increased commissary fees three times from January 2025 to the present for unclear reasons.[10] DC residents in DOC often need to rely on family members to pay for commissary and other fees after exhausting their financial resources, which can create a financial burden on primarily low-income Black households in DC.[11] DC residents in DOC need to be able to testify directly to the Council about the harm of unfair commissary costs and other fees so that the Council can develop solutions.
Eliminating Cost Barriers is a Necessity for Communicating with the Council
The EASE Act will help address both access and financial barriers for DC residents in DOC who want to testify before the DC Council. The bill will make communication with the DC Council by electronic devices, internet, and mail free for DC residents in DOC.[12] This removes cost barriers that prevent residents from engaging with the ANC Commissioner and the Council. The District still needs to address the broader issue of unaffordable communication fees for DC residents in DOC; for example, residents pay $0.06 per minute for phone calls and $0.16 per minute for video calls.[13] However, this bill ensures that residents do not face financial hardships when communicating with the Council and ANC Commissioner. And the EASE Act is a first step to enabling DC residents in DOC to share with Councilmembers the broader issues with telecommunication fees.
In conclusion, DCFPI supports the EASE Act, because it would enable vulnerable DC residents to connect with the District’s legislative leadership and their ANC representative so they can directly share their lived experiences and concerns. This would improve the Council’s understanding of conditions in DOC facilities, foster improved oversight of DOC, and provide Council with insights into any additional accountability and legislative measures that are needed to ensure that the concerns of primarily Black DC residents in DOC facilities are heard and addressed. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. I am happy to answer any questions or to meet to discuss this further.
