ACLU-D.C. and ACLU-MD Statement on D.C. Agency Re-Opening A Condemned Juvenile Facility in Maryland

In response to reports that The Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services may be reopening Thomas J.S. Waxter Children’s Center, ACLU-D.C. Supervising Policy Counsel Alicia Yass and ACLU-MD Public Policy Director Yanet Amanuel issued the following joint statement:

“The ACLU-D.C. and the ACLU-MD are disappointed to learn that the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) is focusing its attention on reopening Thomas J.S. Waxter Children's Center—a condemned juvenile detention center in Maryland.

This move is not an appropriate solution to the well-documented problem of overcrowding at D.C.’s Youth Service Center (YSC). Reopening a previously condemned facility will exacerbate health and safety concerns for youth in DYRS custody, and it will not address the ongoing harm done to children when their rehabilitative placements are delayed and they are left stuck in the jail-like conditions at YSC.

DYRS has been failing to meet the rehabilitative and treatment needs of children in its custody and has instead been unlawfully extending the time these children spend in jail-like settings. In October 2024, the ACLU-D.C. together with the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia sued DYRS for a widespread failure to promptly move the children committed to its care into appropriate rehabilitative placements. These failures violate the D.C. Code and the children’s constitutional due process rights. The court heard oral argument in December 2024 on our request for immediate transfers for our clients. Within five days after the hearing, the D.C. government transferred the two sixteen-year-old plaintiffs to their long-overdue rehabilitative placements.

The ACLU-D.C. is still fighting for relief for the entire class of children stuck at YSC. Meanwhile, the average wait time for transfer to rehabilitative placements is up to 69 days—more than double the DYRS director’s goal of 30 days. DYRS needs to focus on identifying and applying for rehabilitative placements faster, rather than opening yet another warehouse that is even worse than the current one and where kids will still lack the rehabilitative services to which they are entitled under D.C. law.

The ACLU-D.C. will continue to fight for all children held in DYRS custody to promptly get the rehabilitative placements they need, and this fight includes working to ensure they are not held at a condemned facility. The ACLU-MD supports these efforts.”