# crisis
When Micheal Cohen reflects on his time in the D.C. jail, he recalls seeing so many cockroaches some nights that "the floor came alive."
The 43-year-old was held from the summer of 2018 until April 2020, nine months of which he spent in the prison's central booking unit. The wall next to his bunk was covered with other people's snot and mucus, he said. "This is dirty." 'There are always plumbing problems, and the smell of sewage is always there,' he said. Then came the violence. He alleges that after he cursed at a prison guard for refusing to flush his toilet with boiling water, the officer beat him, handcuffed him and sprayed him twice with pepper spray. He said he reported the incident, but the officer remained on the job.