A sweeping new investigation has uncovered more than 1,000 graves belonging to children who died while in state custody, revealing a largely forgotten chapter in the history of America’s juvenile justice system.
Researchers with Georgetown University’s Forgotten Children Initiative have identified at least 40 burial sites connected to former youth prisons and reform institutions across 29 states. Many of the graves are unmarked, abandoned or poorly maintained, and researchers believe the number of children discovered so far represents only a portion of the true total.
The children died or were killed while in government custody from the early 1800s through the 1950s. Early findings indicate that many were poor and that Black children were disproportionately represented.
The investigation began after researchers examined several institutions already known to have buried children who died while confined. Those included Florida’s notorious Dozier School for Boys, the New York House of Refuge for Women and Maryland’s House of Reformation and Instruction for Colored Children.
Researchers initially wanted to determine whether similar cemeteries existed elsewhere.
The answer was overwhelming.
The project ultimately discovered dozens of sites around the country, turning what appeared to be isolated state tragedies into evidence of a much broader national history.
Many early juvenile institutions were established with a reform-minded argument: children should not be incarcerated alongside adults. But the facilities that replaced adult prisons could themselves be harsh environments built around discipline, punishment and institutional control.
Children could be confined for reasons that today would not necessarily be considered serious criminal behavior. Historical records show that some were institutionalized for being considered “incorrigible” rather than for committing major crimes.
Researchers are still attempting to determine exactly how the children died.
Historical records frequently attribute deaths to diseases such as tuberculosis and influenza, but investigators say those explanations require closer examination. Determining whether neglect, abuse, dangerous living conditions or other factors contributed to individual deaths will require extensive archival research.
One of the most disturbing discoveries is in Maryland, where hundreds of Black boys are believed to have been buried in an abandoned cemetery associated with the House of Reformation and Instruction for Colored Children.
Many graves have no names and are identified only by simple markers such as cinder blocks.
A previous Washington Post investigation determined that at least 230 children died at the Maryland institution between 1870 and 1939 and are probably buried at the site. Even more troubling, archival evidence indicated that state officials had known about the cemetery for decades without adequately restoring or memorializing it.
The discovery eventually prompted political action.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore signed legislation providing $1 million to establish a commission charged with investigating the deaths and restoring the cemetery. Family members of several boys who died at the institution are now participating directly in that effort.
For researchers, finding those relatives has become as important as locating the graves themselves.
The Forgotten Children Initiative originally focused on identifying cemeteries. Its mission has expanded toward discovering the names of the children, reconstructing their lives and connecting their stories with surviving families.
That work is already spreading.
In Missouri, researchers identified a burial site connected to the former Missouri State Training School for Boys, located on property that now operates as an adult prison. At least 51 children are believed to be buried there.
Similar investigations are beginning in other states as historians, lawyers, community organizations and families examine death certificates, institutional archives and cemetery records.
The project’s estimate of more than 1,000 children is intentionally conservative. It does not include children who died while in state custody but whose bodies were returned to their families for burial, meaning the total number deaths connected to early juvenile institutions could be significantly higher.
The investigation therefore represents more than an archaeological or historical project.
It raises fundamental questions about government responsibility, racial inequality and accountability for children placed under state protection.
These boys and girls were legally under the government’s care. Yet many died and were buried in places that eventually became overgrown, forgotten or effectively erased from public memory.
Researchers now hope communities across the country will investigate the institutions that once operated in their states, identify the children buried there and determine what happened to them.
The discovery transforms hundreds of isolated graves into evidence of a national tragedy.
More importantly, the project is attempting to return something that many of these children lost more than a century ago: their names, their histories and recognition that their lives mattered.
