Opinion ID: 389247
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Legal Relationship Between Lorton and the Federal Government

Text: 25 In 1909, Congress passed a special act 23 ordering the construction of Lorton Reformatory on federally owned property in Virginia. However, in 1946, Congress enacted a statute granting the governing body of the District of Columbia effective control over the Reformatory. 24 D.C.Code § 442, the 1946 Act, gives the Major and Council of the District of Columbia 26 charge of the management and regulation of the Workhouse at Occoquan in the State of Virginia, the Reformatory at Lorton in the State of Virginia, and the Washington Asylum and Jail, and (the) ... responsib(ility) for the safekeeping, care, protection, instruction and discipline of all persons committed to such institutions. 24 27 (Emphasis supplied.) The same statute explicitly delegates to the District of Columbia Council the power to promulgate rules and regulations for the government of such institutions, and to the District of Columbia Department of Corrections, the power to establish and conduct industries, farms, and other activities, to classify the inmates, and to provide for their proper treatment, care, rehabilitation, and reformation. Id. 28 More recent legislative events confirm Congress' continued intention to let the District control the operation of Lorton. In 1970 and 1973, while considering passage of the Court Reform Act 25 and the Home Rule Act, 26 Congress debated whether to reassert federal control over Lorton. On both occasions, efforts spearheaded by Senator Scott of Virginia 27 to transfer its operational control to the Bureau of Prisons failed. 29 The Reformatory is currently, and was at the time of Cannon's injury, staffed exclusively by employees of the Department. 28 These employees were hired, trained by and responsible to the officials of that Department, not the Bureau. 29 As the district court in Curry-Bey v. Jackson, 422 F.Supp. 926 (D.D.C.1976), 30 recognized, the officials of the Department have the power to formulate the regulations and policies under which their employees operate, and are not bound by those formulated by the Bureau. 31 Department officials, in turn, are responsible to the Council and Mayor of the District of Columbia. According to the undisputed affidavit of Clair Cripe, Acting Director of the Bureau, the D.C. Department of Corrections is an independent entity of the D.C. Government subject only to the supervision and control of the Mayor and Council of the District of Columbia. R. 10 (Defendant's Exhibit No. 9 at 2). He further stated that 24 D.C.Code §§ 441-42 precludes this office or the Attorney General from exercising any management control over the actions of the District of Columbia Department of Corrections as it regards the operation, classification and treatment of offenders contained within the penal facilities of that entity. Id. 30 As far as fiscal control over Lorton is concerned, the federal government exercises no greater leverage over it than over any other District of Columbia facility or agency. Although Congress must still approve the District budget, 32 it is the District government which proposes the allocations of money in that budget for the various departments and agencies and, conversely, decides which agencies must undergo reductions in personnel and funds. Thus in 1980, District officials proposed the personnel cuts in Lorton operations. 33 When they testified in support of those cuts, they compared their situation specifically to that of state correctional administrators. 34 It bears remembering that levels of inmate supervision in correctional facilities like Lorton are largely dependent on ratios of guards to inmates and the budget authority to hire such guards. 31 In sum, we have not been presented with, nor have we been able to find, any evidence that Lorton's statutory or legal relationship to the federal government differs from that of other District of Columbia agencies. In the absence of such a distinction, we would be hard-pressed to deviate from the general rule that the District of Columbia and its agencies are not federal agencies for the purposes of the FTCA. 35 32