A comprehensive investigation by Georgetown University’s Center for Youth Justice has uncovered extensive burial grounds at juvenile detention facilities across the United States. The research initiative, which began in February, has documented graves at 40 reform schools and youth detention centers spanning 29 states, from Oregon to Maine. The largest concentration of remains was discovered near the Cheltenham Youth Detention Center in Maryland, where over 230 Black boys are buried in a wooded area across the street from the facility.
The House of Reformation and Instruction for Colored Children in Cheltenham operated from 1870 to 1937 as the first juvenile detention facility for Black children in the American South. Children as young as 5 years old were incarcerated at the institution for both criminal offenses and non-criminal reasons, including poverty, homelessness, and orphan status. Conditions at the facility were severe, with inmates subjected to forced labor, inadequate food provisions, and physical discipline administered by white guards. During the 1920s, boys were leased to neighboring farms with minimal compensation, and many worked in the reformatory’s broom factory, which labor inspectors described as a fire hazard.
The discovery has prompted policy responses at state and federal levels. Maryland established a commission in the state attorney general’s office to research and identify all children buried in Cheltenham, with family members of deceased children participating in decisions regarding the site’s future and potential reparations. Similar efforts have emerged elsewhere, including a $20 million restitution fund in Florida for survivors of a reform school that closed in 2011, and a memorial in Arkansas honoring 21 Black boys who died in a 1959 correctional facility fire.
State lawmakers have begun connecting these historical injustices to contemporary juvenile justice practices. Maryland’s legislature passed legislation removing certain offenses from charges that automatically result in youth being tried as adults, with the measure taking effect this month. Advocates argue that understanding this historical record is essential to reforming current systems and preventing similar abuses in the future.
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