DC Youth Rehabilitation Suit To End

Settlement In Juvenile Justice System Suit

(Washington, DC) — A settlement is expected to be finalized this week in D.C.’s decades-old lawsuit that would end Superior Court’s oversight of the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services. Mayor Muriel Bowser has announced that a deal is likely when Judge Herbert Dixon reviews the settlement in Superior Court on Wednesday. Judge Dixon has presided over the case for the last two decades. The suit alleged that confinement conditions in D.C. juvenile detention facilities specifically at the Oak Hill Juvenile Detention Center were unconstitutional. As part of the settlement, the mayor has agreed to establish an Office of Independent Juvenile Justice Facilities Overnight to monitor DYRS facilities to ensure the District maintains the progress it has made through the suit.