Offender escapes from new youth jail
By: Bill Myers
Examiner Staff Writer
June 1, 2009
A young offender in D.C.’s brand-new, multimillion juvenile detention facility has escaped, one day after city officials grandly cut the ribbon on the new youth jail.
The young man, who was not identified, scurried away from the $45 million New Beginnings Youth Center sometime Saturday, the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services said in a news release. Spokesman Reggie Sanders declined further comment.
Saturday’s escape is another blow the credibility of DYRS Director Vincent Schiraldi. Schiraldi’s spare-the-rod approach to juvenile justice is leading to mounting criticism that he is endangering the public — and the kids he is supposed to be rehabilitating. Schiraldi has said that juvenile jails serve as training grounds for hardened criminals. He says it’s best to put offending youth back into their communities or into group homes.
Critics say Schiraldi is dropping kids back into the same toxic environment that led them astray.
Last year, at least six teens or kids were killed while under DYRS care. At least one teenager has been killed this year.
Fifty-one young people have escaped from the department’s custody: 25 from group homes and 26 who were on home confinement but didn’t check in with their case workers.
About 60 young men are housed in the Laurel facility, which was designed to resemble a college and to provide a caring environment in the hope that its inmates would turn away from a life of crime.
