A top official within Maryland’s Department of Juvenile Services, which has faced persistent scrutiny, has left the agency.
Antonia Reason served as the department’s deputy secretary of residential services, overseeing the agency’s community detention centers and residential treatment facilities, according to an archived version of the department’s website. In her role, she also led the department’s health, educational, security, recreational and transportation functions.
Department spokesman Eric Solomon said in an email Tuesday to The Baltimore Sun that Reason “is no longer with DJS,” but declined to elaborate on the circumstances of her departure.
“DJS continues to work hard every day to improve its services for young people within its facilities and the community, striving for excellence to help create safer and stronger communities throughout Maryland,” Solomon said.
Reached by phone, Reason said she could not talk until Wednesday.
Adina Levi has been tapped as the acting deputy secretary of residential services, taking over the role at a time where the department has faced scrutiny from law enforcement and lawmakers.
Gov. Wes Moore earlier this month signed into law a sweeping juvenile justice bill that would bolster juvenile services communication with law enforcement, add rehabilitative and diversionary services for younger children accused of committing certain crimes and expand the list of crimes with which 10- to 12-year-olds can be charged.
That legislation followed up on frustrations voiced by police and prosecutors around the state, who argued that problems within the agency were detrimental to public safety. Opponents said the bill was misguided by anecdotal evidence and that it would have a disparate effect on minority children.
The staffing shake-up also comes as the juvenile services agency has been targeted by a growing number of lawsuits alleging scores of people were sexually abused as children in state youth correctional facilities.
Levi previously held leadership positions in the District of Columbia’s Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services and served as an executive director at Recovery Centers of America, where she was responsible for a 140-bed residential and outpatient substance use treatment facility in Maryland, according to juvenile services’ website.
