According to police reports, dispatch records and government sources familiar with the situation, it has been a violent and dangerous month inside D.C.'s juvenile detention center. D.C. police and paramedics have been called repeatedly to the long-troubled facility.
Oversight reports show the start of this year showed improvement when it came to violence inside the facility, but the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) told News4 Monday there were 14 assaults in the prior 10 days inside the facility, suggesting that improving trend has hit a roadblock.
At 6:30 p.m. Friday, D.C. police and EMS were called for a fight inside D.C.'s Youth Services Center in Northeast D.C. It was so severe multiple ambulances and police units were sent to calm things down and treat injured young people in what is supposed to be a secure detention facility, according to those government sources.
Dispatch calls make clear there were patients injured in the fight waiting for help on the first and third floors. At least one of them was knocked out, according to multiple calls. DYRS confirmed to the I-Team one person was treated at the facility and three young detainees had to be taken to the hospital.
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D.C. police reports note all three had serious injuries and four juveniles were arrested and charged with felony assault. It appears to be the most serious but far from the only recent trip by D.C. police to calm things down inside the juvenile jail.
Two days earlier, on May 8, another D.C. police report notes another assault with significant bodily injury. Police arrested four young people in that incident as well.
DYRS confirms a third trip on May 4 for another "group disturbance."
The group disturbances are not the only issues the I-Team uncovered. In the last four weeks, DYRS confirms four young people inside the facility tested positive for “substances.” Three of those positive tests were for opioids. One of those incidents — on May 3 — was so severe DYRS medical personnel administered NARCAN. DYRS said the young person "responded positively" to the NARCAN. It's not clear how the drugs got into the secure facility.
In a statement an agency spokesman told the I-Team they are investigating, adding, "It’s unacceptable that anyone would compromise a youth’s pathway to success and the agency is taking proactive measures to enhance security."
But that's pretty much what the director of the agency told council in February, when he says opioids were first found in the facility.
“Yes (we have heard of fentanyl in YSC) and it’s a high concern,” DYRS Director Sam Abed told D.C. Council on Feb. 15. “We recently did uncover youth who had tested positive for fentanyl and that is one of the top priorities of our internal investigator."
It all comes a short time after D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser recommended closing DYRS’ independent oversight agency, the Office of Independent Juvenile Justice Facilities Oversight. Bowser created the agency by executive order in 2020 to monitor DYRS for things like staffing and safety issues. The agency was scheduled to close November 2023, but D.C. Council passed emergency legislation to keep it open through the fiscal year due to the rising juvenile crime in the District last year. There is currently no public plan to keep the office open beyond September 2024.
DYRS declined News4’s request for an interview to help understand why this is all happening. All of this comes as population reports show there are more kids inside that secure facility than there have been at DYRS in years.
This week, the population is listed at 108 young people. Its maximum capacity is 98.
D.C.'s juvenile detention center had very public issues with overcrowding and understaffing last year when a D.C. judge hauled them into court to explain themselves.
Reported by Ted Oberg, produced by Rick Yarborough, and shot and edited by Steve Jones.
