The move brings to an end Schiraldi's long and contentious tenure here in the District. An outspoken advocate of rehabilitating troubled youth rather than warehousing them in prisonlike homes, Schiraldi oversaw the closing of the notorious Oak Hill reformatory and the opening of its replacement, the New Beginnings Youth Center. The new facility—brighter, cheerier, and much more lightly defended than its predecessor—came under criticism after a youth escaped the day after its opening.

Schiraldi has also come under regular fire from public safety advocates, including prosecutors and judges, for placing violent youths back into community settings, sometimes with little supervision. His tenure had provided regular column fodder for Washington Post columnist Colbert I. King. But he maintained his defenders, including much of the political establishment, making him one of the very few holdovers from Mayor Anthony A. Williams' administration to gain the confidence of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty.

Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells, who has overseen DYRS for three years as chair of the council's human services committee, says Schiraldi "made substantial progress" in reforming a system that's been subject to federal litigation for more than a decade. "I think that running a juvenile justice system with how we view juveniles, with our fears and concerns about teenagers, it's an extremely difficult job–particularly in D.C. with its history," he says.

Wells says Schiraldi will be remembered "as a reformer."

"Aggressive reformers don't last as long as he did," Wells says. "For being as controversial as he was, he certainly had longevity to make it through two mayors....He certainly made a national name for himself, and reformers don't stay that long."

Schiraldi told the New York Observer's Azi Paybarah that "he wanted to focus on juveniles in the criminal justice system."

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

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.