Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the District of Columbia's (D.C.) Department of Corrections' (DOC) Criminal Justice Initiative (CJI), which Congress mandated to: (1) expand the academic and vocational education training programs in overcrowded D.C. correctional institutions; and (2) serve as a model education program for the national corrections community.
GAO found that: (1) CJI was an attempt to relieve overcrowded prison conditions and to break the cycle of recidivism among D.C. offenders; (2) CJI education programs were to provide inmates with basic life and occupational skills; and (3) CJI education programs were to be accomplished by expanding the academic and vocational training programs available to inmates. GAO also found that: (1) DOC had only 3 months to plan and organize CJI, and was pressed for results; (2) DOC computerized job placement records included incomplete, nonstandardized, and inaccurate data; (3) $41 million in federal funds was provided to D.C. for CJI; and (4) federal funding for CJI ended in fiscal year 1986, and D.C. has since used its own funds to continue the educational programs.
