District of Columbia v. Jerry

• Decision Date: 12 February 1990
• Docket Number: 88-782 and 89-799.,No. 88-626,88-626
• Citation: 571 A.2d 178
• Parties: DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Appellant, v. JERRY M., et al., Appellees.
• Court: D.C. Court of Appeals

571 A.2d 178

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Appellant, v. JERRY M., et al., Appellees.

Nos. 88-626, 88-782 and 89-799.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Argued December 18, 1989.

Decided February 12, 1990.

Edward E. Schwab, Asst. Corp. Counsel, with whom Herbert O. Reid, Acting Corp. Counsel, Charles L. Reischel, Deputy Corp. Counsel, and Lutz Alexander Prager, Asst. Deputy Corp. Counsel, were on the brief, for appellant.

David A. Reiser, Public Defender Service, with whom Kim A. Taylor, Public Defender Service, James Klein, Public Defender Service, and Donna Wulkan were on the brief, for appellees.

Before ROGERS, Chief Judge, and SCHWELB and FARRELL, Associate Judges.

ROGERS, Chief Judge:

The reformers who championed the establishment of juvenile courts in the United States envisioned a system in which youthful law violators would receive treatment and other forms of rehabilitation and thereby become productive members of society without forever being tarnished by criminal records as a result of youthful indiscretions. See In re Gault, 387 U.S. 1, 15, 87 S.Ct. 1428, 1437, 18 L.Ed.2d 527 (1966). While the visions of the reformers did not always comport with the reality of juvenile court systems, hope persists that the system will work. Even today this hope appears not to be totally unrealistic in view of the experts' conclusion that "confined juveniles in the District of Columbia are, for the most part, neither violent nor chronic offenders."¹ Clearly, there is no lack of recognition of the need to expand the services that are available to such juveniles. On July 24, 1986, the parties agreed and the trial judge approved a Consent Decree that called for "an assessment and study of the juvenile population in existing YSA juvenile facilities ... to determine an appropriate configuration and design for the confinement of children in the custody of YSA."² In the view of the trial judge the Decree represented a "monumental effort" to bring about correction of conditions for such youth.

In this appeal the District of Columbia contends that the trial judge exceeded his authority under the Consent Decree in ordering the District to take actions to which it had not consented. Specifically, the District maintains that the judge erred in ordering (1) five secure decentralized facilities that would replace existing secure institutions, (2) a cap of 60 on the number of juveniles in residential placements outside the District, where there is no representative plaintiff and the question had not been at issue in the case, (3) a case management system that is the functional equivalent of a system previously agreed upon by the parties, and (4) broad-ranging management reforms in YSA. It further contends that the judge abused his discretion by ordering caps on the number of securely detained juveniles recommended by the Panel, but rejecting the Panel's recommendation for judicial reforms necessary to achieve the caps. Finally, the District contends that the judge erred in enforcing the one-juvenile-per-room provision of the Consent Decree by entering a new mandatory injunction to which the District never agreed, requiring that the District transfer juveniles to shelter or group homes within ten days of the determination that they are suitable for less secure confinement. Appellees respond that in view of the District's pervasive noncompliance with the Decree for three and one half years, this court should, with one exception regarding decentralization of secure facilities, affirm because the trial judge did not impose any new duties on the District, but simply fleshed out the provisions of the decree in a more specific remedial order.

Finding ourselves in total agreement with the parties and the trial judge that improvements in the alternatives to secure detention are imperative for juveniles who do not require secure detention, we nevertheless conclude that portions of the judge's orders exceeded his authority under the Consent Decree. We do so with some reluctance since the District's record of compliance with the Decree leaves much to be desired and the judge exercised considerable restraint, on several occasions agreeing to the District's requests precisely because he acknowledged some of the bureaucratic and administrative problems that YSA was experiencing. Still, the Decree of July 24, 1986, was limited in scope and, in turn, limited what the judge was authorized to do in ordering compliance with it.

The Consent Decree agreed to by the parties, and approved by the trial judge, was limited to the design of placement alternatives for youth no longer requiring secure confinement, and expressly recognized that the requirement for secure placement of juveniles was subject to judicial authority beyond the control of the parties. Hence the orders of the trial judge regarding decentralization of the secure facilities, placements outside the District of Columbia, and the management of the YSA were beyond the scope of the four corners of the Decree and beyond the judge's authority. Otherwise we affirm. The trial judge recognized that the demographics of securely committed juveniles had changed since the Panel's report in adopting the Panel's cap recommendations. The decree as well as the judge's orders afforded the District the opportunity to adapt to changed circumstances and to submit new figures. See Order of April 8, 1988 and Memorandum Order "D," notes 14 & 16, infra. What the court did not do was ignore the District's agreement to implement a juvenile justice system with a variety of community based services and thereby reduce the time youth were inappropriately housed in secure facilities. Further, in view of the provisions of the Consent Decree designed to minimize the time that a juvenile remained in a secure facility if found suitable for less restrictive confinement, and the provisions of Memorandum Orders "C" and "D," note 16, infra, from which the District did not appeal, the judge did not exceed his authority in ordering, over three years after the decree had been entered, that the District remove children within ten days.

I

Jerry M., representing appellees, the class of detained³ and committed⁴ children confined at the District of Columbia's secure juvenile institutions, filed suit challenging the failure of the District of Columbia and those officials⁵ responsible for administering the juvenile facilities (District) to provide appropriate care, rehabilitation, and treatment to them in violation of the Constitution and the District of Columbia Code. After extensive pretrial discovery and briefing, the parties presented a settlement agreement to the trial judge on July 17, 1986. Following a hearing on July 24, 1986, during which the parties responded to concerns raised by the trial judge, and modified their agreement accordingly, the judge approved the settlement agreement and entered the Consent Decree as a binding judgment.

The Consent Decree was based on three general principles. The first principle was "the right of children to be housed and provided services in the least restrictive setting consistent with the protection of the public, the youth's individual needs and with applicable court rules, statutory and constitutional provisions." The second principle was the right of a child not to be in secure confinement when capable of functioning effectively in a community based program. The third principle was that a child should remain in pretrial detention for the shortest possible period and in no event to exceed 30 days or, in the case of a pretrial shelter house placement, 45 days, but recognized that the presence of juveniles in pretrial detention for longer periods as a result of court delays would require the District to provide additional detention slots.

The Decree established a panel of three experts (Panel), one named by the appellees, one selected by the appellants, and one chosen by the parties, to "determine the appropriate number of juveniles in need of secure confinement in the District and to develop a system for appropriate care, services, and placement of securely confined juveniles in YSA custody."⁶ The Decree also appointed a monitor to make findings and recommendations "concerning steps to be taken to achieve compliance." The Panel was to base its determination of the number of children who could be securely confined on its "assessment of the current population within YSA custody," and to "prepare a specific comprehensive plan for the design, development, and implementation of community-based programming and alternatives with specific objectives and time tables in accordance with the three general principles set forth in the Decree." In addition, the Panel was to establish "standards and procedures as well as a mechanism for ongoing review and community placement of all detained and committed children confined in YSA custody."⁷ Provision was made for exceptions in emergencies and the housing of a number of children in secure facilities in excess of the number provided in the Panel's plan as a result of a court order. Other provisions concerned conditions at institutions and required housing limitations,⁸ minimum standards for staffing and training, improvements in diagnostic services, treatment planning through individual service plans (ISP) and Team Leaders, as well as education, recreational, and mental health services and medical services.⁹ The Decree further provided that appellees would not seek to have the District defendants held in contempt of court so long as they had taken "all reasonable steps, employing their utmost diligence, to ensure substantial compliance with" this Decree.

The Panel submitted to the trial judge on March 11, 1987, its final plan of 48 recommendations which the Panel advised were "intrinsically connected to one another." The Panel explicitly stated, however, that it did "not attempt to address issues of implementation" and that its report "should...