When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, D.C. Public Schools stopped providing education to students at the DC Jail, and instead students received inaccessible, inadequate, and inconsistently delivered work packets that they had to complete without instruction or assistance.

In April 2021, three students, on behalf of themselves and a class of all other students at the DC Jail, filed a lawsuit challenging the District’s failure to provide them with education and other services that they are entitled to under federal law. After winning a preliminary injunction, these students achieved a landmark settlement that requires the District to educate students incarcerated at the jail and provides significant compensatory education to all students who were denied their education.

Read more: Charles H. v. District of Columbia