DC councilman visits juvenile detention center after being given supervisory responsibilities

WASHINGTON DC (7News) — After recently being tapped as the chairman of the new subcommittee Council Member Zachary Parker, charged with overseeing the DC Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS), visited one of the agency’s embattled juvenile detention centers on Friday.

Parker announced that he had made this visit posted a video on X.

“Hello, I’m Councilmember Zachary Parker. My team and I just completed a visit to DYRS’s Youth Services Center, YSC,” Parker said in the video. “The purpose of today’s visit was to explore the activities, to engage directly with the young people here under the care of DYRS to see what works and what doesn’t work, to engage in conversation and to listen to the staff here.”

Originally, Councilman Trayon White chaired the committee responsible for overseeing DYRS.

The DC Council voted in favor dissolve its committee and form two new subcommittees with various council members subsequently serving as chairman White was arrested for federal bribery charges.

The two subcommittees divided the responsibilities originally under the umbrella of White’s committee, and Parker is the chairman of the subcommittee responsible for overseeing DYRS.

7News On Your Side spotlighted problems with one of DYRS’ juvenile detention centers in May when we reported on 14 attacks in just two days and four positive drug tests in the previous weeks.

We have since learned that this was certainly the case another five assaults and eight positive drug tests.

On the first full day of forming Parker’s subcommittee, 7News asked Parker what experience he has that will help him usher in change at DYRS.

“I am an educator. I have dedicated my life to ensuring that our young people can grow up in a safe and nurturing environment, so I will use that lived experience and my professional expertise to lean on DYRS,” Parker told 7News. .

Last month, Parker’s subcommittee participated in a hearing with DYRS Director Sam Abed.

That hearing included the following exchange:

Parker: “How many people show up to work? Do you have those numbers, the total staff capacity and how many people show up to work?”

Abed: “I’ll have to get back to you with the current count, but since I’ve been here, we’ve historically had a large number of staff members who have been unavailable for duty. So to address that, we actually hired an employee – to-work coordinator.”

Parker said in the video he posted to X that he will hold another roundtable and hearing with DYRS next month.

In the meantime, he said he will continue to visit the juvenile detention center, which has recently been plagued by violence and drug use.

“We have more visits planned, both announced and unannounced,” Parker said in the social media video.