Congress has injected nearly $3 million into long-stalled efforts to improve conditions in the dilapidated inmate pens behind the District of Columbia’s Superior Court.

The money, set aside in an earmark that was signed into law by President Bush last week, is only a fraction of the $43 million that the court and the U.S. Marshals Service have said they need to bring the cells up to code. But the earmark’s as-yet unidentified author hopes it will help the two agencies “address substandard health and security conditions” in the cells.