By DaQuan Lawrence
AFRO International Writer
DLawrence@afro.com
Although there was a 75 percent decline in national youth incarceration between 2000-2022, at the end of 2022 there were approximately 27,587 youth offenders held at 1,277 juvenile facilities across the United States, including detention centers, residential treatment centers, group homes and youth prisons, according to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP).
Considering the high amounts of youth involved in the justice system, the AFRO spoke with stakeholders within the District of Columbia that support youth returning from correctional facilities.
In Washington, D.C., the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) is responsible for the supervision, custody and care of young people charged with a delinquent act. DYRS works with youth who are committed by a D.C. Superior Court Family Court judge after adjudication, as well as youth who are detained at a DYRS facility while awaiting adjudication, according to the agency.
DYRS operates two secure locations in the metropolitan area: the Youth Service Center (YSC) in the northeast quadrant of the District, and the New Beginnings Youth Development Center (NBYDC) in Laurel, Md. The YSC is an 88-bed facility that accommodates youth who receive short sentences, while New Beginnings is a 60-bed residential facility for DYRS-committed youth that receive long-term sentences.
“The youth at both facilities are typically brilliant in one way or the other. It’s just that they have not figured out how to use their powers for good,” said Felecia Hayward, deputy chief of secure programs at the See Forever Foundation and Maya Angelou Academy (MAA), who formerly served as the principal of New Beginnings.
Hayward is responsible for managing MAA schools throughout the District and ensuring D.C. youth participate in high quality programs that benefit them after their transition from DYRS.
“I am essentially in charge of managing our schools at the D.C. Jail, the Youth Services Center and at New Beginnings,” Hayward said. “That entails assisting the principals operating the schools, being a liaison between DYRS and the See Forever Foundation/Maya Angelou schools, and removing any barriers that limit young people at those facilities from obtaining quality education.”
While detained, youth can enroll in GED and SAT prep classes offered by MAA.
The academy and associated public charter schools in the District is operated by the nonprofit See Forever Foundation. Established in 1998, the Maya Angelou Public Charter School (MAPCS) offers all disconnected youth in the D.C. area a place to engage in full-time, rigorous academic programs with innovative wraparound services they need to succeed.
“The kids are great and over the years, I rarely encountered a young person who I truly believed could not be saved,” Hayward told the AFRO. “It takes a team effort, and unfortunately, the way that a lot of things are set up in the city makes things very challenging, especially with all the different stakeholders.”
Last year, the Sentencing Project, a nonprofit that advocates for effective responses to crime that minimize imprisonment and criminalization of youth and adults, reported that racial and ethnic disparities continue to exist despite the overall decrease in the number of youth offenders.
Nationally, based on the OJJDP’s “Easy Access to the Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement: 1997-2023” report, of the 29,314 youth held in facilities in 2023, African Americans comprised 46 percent (13,470 inmates), while White Americans made up 29 percent (8,646 inmates) and Hispanic Americans made up 19 percent, or 5,636 inmates, respectively.
The racial disparities are further exacerbated among D.C.’s population of justice system-involved youth, as 81 percent of youth offenders were African American in 2023, while less than 1 percent was White and about 1 percent of offenders identified as Hispanic American, according to OJJDP.
Former Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner and inmate Joel Castón currently works with youth detained in juvenile facilities throughout the District. He believes many youth are lacking sufficient role models that can provide insights that may alter their behavior, and ultimately prevent juvenile arrests.
“I recall speaking to a young man who I believe was 16 years old, and while trying to help him, we asked, ‘What did you miss?’and ‘What went wrong in your life?’” Castón told the AFRO.
“He said that he wished he had a father figure,” Castón, a representative of D.C.’s 17-member Sentencing Commission, said.
Juvenile arrests are common within the nation’s capital as Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers arrested 2,235 juveniles on average between 2016 and 2022, based on reports by MPD. Additionally, youth offenders vary by age as the majority of DYRS’ newly committed youth are ages 14 (11.34 percent), 15 (22.16 percent), 16 (26.29 percent) and 17 (25.26 percent), based on DYRS’ July 2025 data.
In April, Mayor Muriel Bowser and MPD announced the launch of a Juvenile Investigative Response Unit (JIRU), an initiative focused on preventing youth offenses, reducing recidivism and improving MPD’s outreach to D.C. youth.
As DYRS and MAA continue to focus on programs that support the academic, social and professional development of youth, Hayward shared reasons for optimism.
“There are many systemic issues that have gotten in the way of youth being able to be successful, but they are still children and still capable of greatness,” Hayward said. “We just have to get through this rough patch of adolescence to see that.”
Great Job DaQuan Lawrence & the Team @ AFRO American Newspapers Source link for sharing this story.
