Three times as many youthful offenders were being held in the D.C. Jail in May than during the same month last year, according to a report released by a group advocating for juvenile justice reform.

The report, “A Capital Offense,” released today by the Campaign for Youth Justice, finds that the rate of children spending time at the D.C. Jail for serious offenses is on the rise despite changes in the city’s approach to rehabilitating its less-serious offenders.

In May, 42 youths were being held — up from 14 a year ago. The increase was even more pronounced for April, with 40 being held this year and only 11 in the same month in 2006.

Those 16 and older can be jailed if they are charged with more serious crimes, including murder, armed robbery, rape and assault.

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Many of the offenders are held without a judge’s review, the report said.

Once there, they spent as many as 23 hours in their cells daily without adequate access to educational or rehabilitative programs, said Liz Ryan, the campaign’s president and chief executive officer.

“We want to see these kids in a juvenile facility,” Ryan said.

Department of Corrections Director Devon Brown, who participated in the report, said the agency has been taking a “very aggressive approach toward better insuring that they [youthful offenders] receive the services that are conducive to their positive growth.”

He said he’s limited by the jail and the city and is negotiating with the private Correctional Corporation of America to have the facility’s minors moved to the nearby Central Treatment Facility.

Though children held at D.C. Jail are separate from the adult population, Council Member Phil Mendelson, D-at large, said existing problems at the jail, including crowding, makes evident the city’s lack of options for dealing with the city’s most violent youthful offenders.

“It takes a bad situation and makes it worse,” Mendelson said.

cmabeus@dcexaminer.com