Once the largest halfway house in the country, Hope Village in Southeast D.C. was boarded up Thursday with no facility to replace it.
The last few dozen inmates inside the halfway house on Langston Place SE were transferred to other halfway houses closer to Baltimore. About 200 others have been sent to home confinement to complete their federal prison sentences.
One former inmate at the women’s halfway house nearby says this closure might lead the feds to move more prisoners directly to home confinement and forgo halfway houses in the future.
“You’re looking to get people back with their families sooner, so I’m not so sure this is a bad idea,” Taylar Nuevelle said. “I think if we can get people going home this quickly, we can do it going forward.”
The contractor who for so many years operated the federal facility is letting the contract expire amid fears the coronavirus could spread quickly in the dormitory-style living conditions.
There were two inmate deaths this spring, but the feds said neither was COVID-19 related.
