Gov. Moore dedicates historical marker to children who suffered at former Cheltenham facility for Black boys
Maryland Governor Wes Moore, leaders of the faith community and other state officials came together on May 6 to unveil a new highway marker recognizing the boys who died while in custody at the former House of Reformation for Colored Boys, now the Cheltenham Youth Detention Center. The post Gov. Moore dedicates historical marker to children who suffered at former Cheltenham facility for Black boys appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.
Black News 
By Dr. Deborah Bailey
AFRO Contributing Editor
A Maryland historical marker acknowledging the Black boys who suffered at the former House of Reform and Instruction for Colored Children in Cheltenham, Md. was unveiled May 6 by Gov. Wes Moore and the Maryland Departments of Juvenile Services and Transportation.
The bodies of more than 230 people who died while in custody at the center between 1870 and 1961 are buried in a field behind the grounds of the current site of what is now Cheltenham Youth Detention Center. Some are unmarked, others acknowledged only by a cinder block or sinking headstone.
In a ceremony on May 6 at the Cheltenham Youth Detention Center in southern Prince George’s County, Moore was joined by members of Maryland’s Legislative Black Caucus and Prince George’s County Aisha Braveboy in pledging support for a full accounting of the systemic failures that led to the numerous deaths and general mistreatment of youth on the Cheltenham site between 1870 and 1961.
Moore spoke about the tragedies that led to the deaths of the youths at the House of Reform and Instruction for Colored Children and was unequivocal in America’s need to reveal uncomfortable and painful historical truths.
“Loving your country does not mean the awful and dark and bad spots did not happen,” he said. “It means being able to embrace everything, flaws and all, and say that every day is an opportunity for us to be better.”
State Senators Will Smith and Kevin Harris joined Maryland Delegate Jeffrie Long in addressing the need to be accountable for both past and present inequities in Maryland’s juvenile justice system. As the three stood before an audience of more than 200, including residents of the Cheltenham facility, they pledged to oversee the implementation of juvenile justice reform recently passed in the 2026 General Assembly Session, which ended in April.
“Only the state of Alabama charges more youth as adult offenders. We have the second-highest rate of charging youth as adult offenders in the nation,” said Smith.
In 2025, Maryland charged 1000 youth as adult offenders, with 90 percent of those charged being Black boys, according to data compiled by the Sentencing Project, a criminal justice policy and reform organization founded in 1986.
Moore applauded Maryland’s Legislative Black Caucus for leadership in sponsoring and advocating for the successful passage of SB0776/HB052, which created a Commission on the House of Reformation and Instruction for Colored Children. The Commission will continue documenting the tragedies that took place at the site and provide a “public accounting of the children who died and were buried on the grounds,” according to the legislation.
Crystal Forieta is now a first-year student at Yale Law School. It was her groundbreaking archival research during an internship with the Department of Juvenile Services, which uncovered gross mistreatment, labor exploitation, and “convict” leasing that occurred regularly at the former House of Reformation for Colored Boys.
Forieta, originally from Silver Spring, Md. said it was her training as a history major that led her to use the AFRO Archives, where she found numerous articles and testimonials about the mistreatment suffered by children ordered to live at the House of Reformation.
“It was through their testimonies, the voices of neglected Black boys, the horrors of senseless beatings, filthy dorms and stolen labor came to light,” Forieta said of the information she uncovered.
Claude Waters, retired employee of the Department of Juvenile Services who worked at the Cheltenham facility for 43 years, beginning in 1973, said both the Commission’s future work and state juvenile justice reform passed by the Maryland General Assembly represented what he hoped for over the course of his career.
“This is just the beginning,” Waters said. “It’s long been time for change, and change has now come.”
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