A group of lawyers claims the D.C. mayor’s administration is violating the rights of juveniles who have been arrested.
Amid a rise in crimes by juveniles, the group points to how the District houses young people awaiting trial.
Mayor Muriel Bowser has pushed prosecutors and judges to hold more juvenile offenders in custody while they await trial. But the District faces a lack of space.
When considering whether to detain juveniles while they await trial, judges have three options: allowing the youths to remain at home under monitoring such as GPS; sending them to shelter housing, similar to a halfway house; or sending them to the District’s secure youth detention facility in Northeast, which is similar to a jail.
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For months, judges and defense attorneys have complained about the lack of space in shelter housing. According to government officials, there are only 38 beds available in those facilities, with 30 for boys and just eight for girls.
An administration official familiar with the facilities told News4 they have been unable to increase the number of beds for girls and that when space is not available in the shelters, juveniles are routinely sent to the detention facility.
Attorney Will Mount, who represents juveniles, said that practice should be stopped.
“Recently, and in my opinion, most horrifically, I had a case where a 13-year-old girl was detained illegally for 15 days at the Youth Services Center because there's only one shelter house with eight beds available for girls in the District of Columbia, while there's multiple shelter house [beds] available for boys,” he said. “That's blatant discrimination and a violation of this child's 14th Amendment rights for equal protection under the law, as well as to her procedural due process rights.”
The acting director for DYRS issued a statement saying in part: “The primary focus of DYRS is to offer the finest continuum of care for court-involved youth and their families. We are dedicated to empowering our youth, families, and community and are taking every provision to expand our residential placement options for youth under our care.”
D.C. Council Member Trayon White, who has oversight of the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS), said he also has concerns about how the city is housing young people.
After a melee broke out inside the detention facility last week, White visited the facility.
The lack of space issue is set to go before a D.C. Superior Court judge on Monday. The judge could find the Bowser administration in contempt of court.
The youth detention facility has a capacity of 88 but is often forced to go over that number.
White pointed to staffing shortages at the facility as another concern. He will hold an oversight hearing on the matter later this month.
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