A retired Baltimore Police detective who worked as a criminal investigator at the D.C. jail is suing the Department of Corrections, alleging she was fired after raising alarms about dysfunctional internal investigations into violence, deaths and drug incidents at the facility.

Destinee Macklin filed the lawsuit against the D.C. Department of Corrections, claiming the jail's internal probes are "rife with dysfunction," according to the Washington Post, which first reported the case on Wednesday, Aug. 19.

Macklin worked for the DOC's Office of Investigative Services, the unit responsible for internal affairs investigations at the jail. She was months into the job when she began raising concerns about investigative practices, the Post reported.

In May 2025, Macklin was sent to stand guard over the body of Carlos Shelley, a 29-year-old from Southeast Washington who was killed in a fight at the Central Detention Facility. The Post reported that Macklin "still gets emotional" recalling that day.

A facility under pressure

The lawsuit lands as the D.C. jail system faces mounting strain. The jail's average daily population hit 2,127 in the first quarter of fiscal year 2026, up 53% from roughly 1,390 in late fiscal year 2023, according to testimony Director Thomas Faust delivered to the DC Council's Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety on Feb. 4.

Staff recovered 512 homemade weapons in fiscal year 2025 and another 143 in just the first quarter of fiscal year 2026. Contraband recoveries totaled 329 in FY 2025, with Suboxone strips making up the majority of suspected drugs seized at the Central Detention Facility.

At least five people have died in DOC custody between October 2025 and May 2026, according to department notices. They include Kelly Williams, 53, found unresponsive at the Correctional Treatment Facility on Oct. 8, 2025, and Marcus Benson, 37, found unresponsive in his cell at the Central Detention Facility on May 8, 2026.

On Aug. 3, 2025, an inmate used a homemade weapon to stab a correctional officer at the Central Detention Facility, inflicting multiple puncture wounds that required emergency hospitalization, according to a DOC notice. The Metropolitan Police Department led that investigation in coordination with the Office of Investigative Services.

What comes next

The Department of Corrections has not publicly responded to Macklin's lawsuit.

The agency's communications director is Setareh Yelle. In an October 2025 press release celebrating the jail's reaccreditation by the American Correctional Association, Faust praised staff performance and said the DOC achieved 100% compliance on all 61 mandatory standards.

The DC Council's Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, chaired by Councilmember Brooke Pinto, oversees the Department of Corrections. The committee held a budget oversight hearing on DOC on May 6.

The court in which Macklin filed her lawsuit and the date of any scheduled hearing have not been confirmed.