The majority of male inmates housed in the Central Detention Facility are awaiting adjudication of cases or are sentenced for misdemeanor offenses.

After the National Capital Revitalization and Self-Government Improvement Act of 1997, sentenced felons are transferred to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

In turn, this building replaced a federal penitentiary that had been torn down at the US Army Arsenal a few years earlier.

[15][16] In 2015, a report from the Washington Lawyers' Committee called the conditions at the jail "alarming," noting that structures were deteriorating and that drug addicts detained there need additional resources.

[1][18][19] Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that the jail would reintroduce face-to-face visits between inmates and their relatives.

[25] Although he had never been convicted of a criminal offense and although he required private nursing care for as much as 20 hours a day, Magbie was given a ten-day sentence in the D.C. jail in September 2004 by D.C. Superior Court Judge Judith E. Retchin.

[26] Magbie's mother, with the help of the ACLU, filed a lawsuit accusing the District government and Greater Southeast Community Hospital of failing to give him proper care.

[28] In 2013, the District of Columbia agreed to pay $6.2 million to settle allegations that the city had a practice of holding inmates at the D.C.

Jail sued the department of corrections for the right to carry guns after he reported receiving threats from inmates that he supervised.

[34] In 2015, the wife of a man who committed a suicide at the jail filed a lawsuit against D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and the D.C. Department of Corrections for wrongful death.

[43][44] The district's commissioners have advocated for prisoners' rights in matters including slow mail delivery, low-quality and unhealthy food, limits on commissary purchasing that do not adapt to inflation-borne price hikes, hygiene (general and menstrual), healthcare quality, and gender disparities in access to education.

[37][42] On two occasions, sudden plans for a commissioner's transfer out of the jail (which would force their removal from office) have led to criticism.

When Castón was scheduled for transfer on November 9, 2021, on the eve of planned testimony to the D.C. Council about prison conditions, resulting outcry led to a reversal by the department.

[45] In July 2023, 60 ANC members and multiple high-ranking D.C. officials attempted to prevent the transfer of Castón's successor Leonard Bishop, who had recently testified in favor of a proposed law to improve food at the jail, but were unsuccessful.