ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WBFF) — FOX45 News is learning more about the policies and beliefs of Gov. Wes Moore's juvenile justice czar after he dodged questions during a book tour stop in Massachusetts last week.
Maryland Secretary of Juvenile Services Vincent Schiraldi visited Harvard Law School Friday for a book tour event sponsored by Nancy Gertner, a senior Harvard lecturer. The event represented a critical opportunity to better understand one of Maryland's most influential government officials.
After two event delays totaling over 30 minutes, Gertner introduced her two-person panel to eight Harvard law students who trickled into the large basem*nt lecture hall. Schiraldi was joined on the panel by a man whom Gertner had previously sentenced as a U.S. District Court judge for the District of Massachusetts.
Gertner, a retired federal judge appointed by then-President Bill Clinton, instructed Schiraldi to begin the panel discussion.
Just one thing, just before I start, I am going to talk about things that are upsetting,” Schiraldi said. “So, to the degree that might trigger some folks on some stuff, so be warned now.”
Schiraldi described his experience running state criminal justice agencies in Washington, D.C. and New York City, but did not mention how he assumed his current position in Maryland government.
Describing how he landed his first job running DC’s juvenile services, he said he was surprised he was ultimately tapped for the position.
“[I made] lots of TV appearances and [had] debates with politicians,” Schiraldi said. “I was living in D.C. for a bit of that and very critical of the juvenile system there.”
And the mayor surprisingly offered me a job to run it," Schiraldi claimed.
After confessing to having knowledge of his DC staff's illicit activities, including physical assault on children, sexual misconduct and drug peddling, he said “when I was done with that, I was done.”
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He later received a call from New York City.
“Mayor Bloomberg’s administration recruited me out of nowhere to run the probation department. I didn’t apply,” Schiraldi said.
Despite saying he ultimately learned on the job in New York City by “going around, shaking hands, sitting on people’s desks,” Schiraldi said Bloomberg asked him during his interview what he thought about America’s largest city’s probation and parole system.
I said ‘ah, not too much,’” Schiraldi said. “It’s a poor service given to poor people.”
Schiraldi then told the students he advocated to Bloomberg to wind down the city’s probation and parole systems and reinvest the money into community-based programming.
After sharing a few more stories, Schiraldi redirected the discussion to his fellow panelists before concluding the lecture by summarizing his book's thesis.
“I’d like to see us go further and try some bold stuff,” Schiraldi said. “[P]articularly reinvesting the savings into communities where I think the real evidence gives.”
I think we have to re-conceptualize this as a helping function in a way I am very devious we will ever do. That’s why I sort of want to toy with abolition because I never see us shaping this,” Schiraldi said.
FOX45 News obtained training material Monday given to over 30 senior DJS staffers. The training material resulted from a controversial five-figure contract awarded to Phyllis Becker, a co-board member with Schiraldi for the prison abolition group Youth Correctional Leaders for Justice (YCLJ).
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According to records, Becker collaborated with Schiraldi and DJS's assistant secretary, Marc Schindler, on two executive agency training sessions held in November and March as part of the awarded contract.
The November slideshow presentation outlined a three-step process called “shifting away from a youth prison model.”
The presentation slide demonstrated a shift in the state's juvenile services agency's model from a correctional or punitive approach to one that is purportedly community, family and youth-driven.
In another slide, the training advocated for less supervision and more skills and service-building features at DJS. The following slide showcased changes in verbiage for the department to shift from “behavioral compliance” to “internalized change.”
After observing Schiraldi's management of the Department of Corrections in New York City, Councilman Robert Holden, D-Queens, said the Harvard lecture and discovered DJS training materials should be a top concern for Maryland residents.
The State of Maryland needs to wake up – Vincent Schiraldi is no secretary; he’s an anti-public safety zealot obsessed with closing jails and letting criminals roam free,” Councilman Holden said.
“Governor Moore needs to step in and get rid of him before his residents continue to suffer," Councilman Holden added.
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After the Harvard lecture on Friday, FOX45 News attempted to ask Schiraldi several unanswered questions about his positions, including his thoughts on recent tweaks to state juvenile accountability laws.
After hiding for over 45 minutes inside the lecture hall with the event’s moderator, Schiraldi did not emerge to speak to FOX45 News despite an unrelated class having taken over the space. Instead, Gertner eventually left the classroom to speak to FOX45 News.
“He will speak to you at an appropriate time but not in the halls of Harvard,” Gertner said.
In a statement from DJS's Eric Solomon, the agency spokesperson, said the focus of the obtained training documents are about "system transformation" and follow best practices to reduce recidivism and help improve public safety.
Solomon also defended Schiraldi's launched initiative the Thrive Academy, saying it is not a replacement for detention. "There is no one solution to addressing the issue of public safety in Maryland," Solomon said.
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