"This is the anti-prison."

—Vincent Schiraldi, director of youth rehabilitation services, May 29

One of the few Williams administration holdovers to stay and thrive in the Fenty administration, Schiraldi tested his boss' resolve in 2009. Already under fire from judges, prosecutors, and Washington Post columnist Colbert I. King for his less-than-totally hardassed approach to youth offenders, he saw what should have been a triumphant moment turn into a PR disaster. In May, Schiraldi shuttered the infamous Oak Hill Youth Center—the prison-in-all-but-name that housed and abused generations of District youngsters—and opened the New Beginnings Youth Center, a smaller, brighter, more open facility. And it was less secure, it turns out. The day after the place opened, and Schiraldi uttered the quote above, one of the youths hopped a fence and escaped from the $46 million facility. That led to much guffawing about his plans to secure the troubled kids with little more than prickly rose bushes. The incident didn't totally derail Schiraldi's tenure; Fenty stood by him, and Schiraldi will start managing the New York City prison department in January.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

More from LL's Quotes of 2009

With much fanfare, the facility replaced the infamous Oak Hill juvenile detention facility. Officials had trumpeted its very un-jail like citing; local media had repeatedly compared it to a college campus. "This is the anti-prison," Vincent N. Schiraldi, director of the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, told the Post in a story that made it seem like New Beginnings was a St. Albans branch campus only better . "What we had before was a training school for them to become adult inmates. We want them to aspire to college, to be in a place that looks like you care about them."

The press had noted that New Beginnings was not surrounded by razor wire. Instead, officials stated that the facility's security was pure state-of-the-art Gattaca shit—"climb-free fencing" and "detention-grade windows." New Beginnings central campus-like feature was a sweet courtyard; it also had a cafeteria, library, gym, and automated bathroom time (!). Apparently, none of the new features nor the intimidating climb-free fencing could prevent a kid from bolting the $46 million Laurel campus.

The kid is still out there. An internal investigation is underway to determine how the kid escaped. Meanwhile, the Post provides some hilarious details on the city's security tests:

"On Thursday, Schiraldi and David Muhammad, chief of Committed Services, said they had brought in young men to try to scale the New Beginnings fences and made modifications to prevent escapes. Schiraldi even said he planned to put prickly shrubbery, possibly rose bushes, near the fence so the young men would not be tempted to flee."

One councilmember is already feeling prickly over the escape—Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells.

Wells is annoyed that he was not notified by the Fenty Administration about the escape. He is chairman of the Human Services Committee which oversees New Beginnings. Wells promised to hold a hearing on the issue and go all question-y on city officials. This would be something new for Wells considering he also oversees the Child and Family Services Agency which got slapped pretty good by the court monitor recently.

On his Tommy Blog, a Wells staffer gushed over New Beginnings' opening as a historic milestone.