Resource: Will Singer, Judicial Intervention and Juvenile Corrections Reform: A Case Study of Jerry M. v. District of Columbia

In January 2007, Vincent N. Schiraldi was the head of the District of Columbia’s juvenile corrections agency. By that time, the agency had struggled for decades to comply with a comprehensive consent decree aimed at remedying constitutionally deficient conditions of juvenile confinement. In a meeting with the city administrator, Schiraldi was asked to describe his top three management problems. “My three biggest management problems right now,” Schiraldi said, emphasizing right now as if the list might change by the end of the day, “are keeping the staff from beating up my kids, figuring out how to cut down on the sex-for-overtime trade between managers and the line staff, and keeping the court off my back long enough so I can fix this damn place.”