The authors are concerned that media accounts portray halfway houses as homes to dangerous and violent felons who receive little supervision, escape regularly, and avoid punishment. The results of the report will discussed tomorrow, at hearings chaired by Councilmember Harold Brazil, at One Judiciary Square, at 2.p.m. But our halfway houses are really full of the gang that couldn't shoot straight. The report, which analyzes new and existing data from the D.C. Trustee for Offender Supervision and the District of Columbia Department of Corrections, suggests the threat to public safety may have been exaggerated.
Halfway houses are a mid-point between total confinement and total liberty.
They permit people to leave for work, provided they return at a certain time. Reported escapes also included people who were in custody in other jurisdictions and people who were late for the evening curfew because they were in court on the charges that led them to be assigned to the halfway house in the first place. Robert Lee Kendrick was alleged by the Post to have escaped, and then get rearrested on new charges in Arlington County. A review of Mr. Kendrick's court records revealed that he never escaped, but left his halfway house during release hours, crossed the Potomac River, and turned himself in to the Arlington County sheriff on outstanding charges. He was released after a trial disposed of his case on January 12, 1999.