The Office of Independent Juvenile Justice Facilities Oversight (OIJJFO) was established pursuant to Mayor’s Order 2020-115, issued on November 13, 2020, and created upon the issuance of a January 6, 2021 court order terminating the 35-year old Jerry M. litigation. The termination of the litigation and the creation of the OIJJFO were effected consistent with the terms of a Settlement Agreement that was approved by the court on July 1, 2020.
As stated in the Mayor’s Order 2020-115, OIJJFO was established to ensure the durability, and promote the expansion, of the achievements under the Consent Decree in the Jerry M. lawsuit. The office regularly monitored and publicly reported on the durability of the reforms that DYRS previously achieved under the Jerry M. work plan and Consent Decree and DYRS’s progress in achieving Jerry M. work plan goals, including critical work plan indicators that DYRS did not achieve prior to the Superior Court’s termination of the Jerry M. Lawsuit. OIJJFO was later extended through September 30, 2024 by issuance of Mayor’s Order 2023-146.
The Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Support Act of 2024 administratively reorganized the office from an independent office within the executive branch to an independent program in the legislative branch within the Office of the District of Columbia Auditor (ODCA) for fiscal year 2025. Subsequently, the Recidivism Reduction at DYRS Amendment Act of 2024 mandated that the functions previously performed by OIJJFO, plus certain additional functions, be performed by ODCA; however, those functions were not funded and the office sunsetted on September 30, 2025 with all operations winding down by April 30, 2026.
Population reporting was transitioned from a manual update process by OIJJFO staff to a fully automated process effective February 27, 2026 and since that time DYRS continues to publish that population data on its web site
DYRS assumed responsibility for public reporting of critical incident and assault data at its two secure facilities on October 1, 2025 and that data can be found on the DYRS web site.
