Leonard Dixon stepping down as head of Cook County juvenile detention center

The superintendent of the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center is stepping down after ten years, marking a new era for the long-troubled facility on Chicago’s West Side.

Leonard Dixon, 69, submitted his resignation Wednesday to Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans, who oversees the juvenile jail. His resignation is effective Dec. 1.

His departure comes amid a transition for the circuit court, after Evans lost a bid for a ninth term as chief judge to Charles S. Beach.

Beach, who takes over Dec. 1, had not said publicly whether he planned to keep Dixon on as superintendent. But in a statement Friday he told Injustice Watch, “I welcome this opportunity.”

“Immediately after the September 10 chief judge election, I assembled a team of subject matter experts and stakeholders evaluating the juvenile system, including the JTDC and developing action plans to create a model juvenile system for the county,” Beach wrote via text message.

Dixon declined to comment.

Dixon’s tenure at the helm of the juvenile detention center, which is one of the largest in the country, has been mired in controversy. For years, child welfare advocates and oversight agencies have raised concerns about the facility’s practices, including the use of prolonged room confinement, unnecessary strip searches, and excessive restraint.

Last year, more than 300 former detainees filed a class-action lawsuit claiming they were sexually abused while at the detention center going back to the early 1990s. At least 19 of the plaintiffs alleged the abuse happened while the jail was under Dixon’s leadership.

“A change in leadership at the juvenile temporary detention center is long overdue,” said JTDC Advisory Board member Amanda Klonsky. “The young people there deserve a superintendent who is present and accountable, who will protect them from abuse, strengthen education inside the facility, end harmful practices like excessive room confinement, and build real pathways to vital community-based services and support.”

Evans hired Dixon, who had previously run detention centers in Detroit and Miami, in 2015. At the time, the facility was coming out from under federal court oversight, spurred by a class-action lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Illinois about severe overcrowding and inhumane conditions at the detention center. In a press release announcing Dixon’s appointment, Evans described him as the “most qualified individual to continue the transformation of the JTDC started by the federal court.”

But concerns about Dixon’s leadership were persistent throughout his decade-long term. 

In 2019, following an investigation by the Chicago Reporter about the rise in punitive room confinement under Dixon, the JTDC Advisory Board published a report criticizing the facility’s practices and his lack of transparency about confinement data. 

Then, in 2022, the chair of a blue-ribbon committee convened by Evans wrote a letter to the chief judge suggesting he should fire Dixon and replace him “with someone who has experience with rehabilitative programming and is committed to transforming the JTDC from simply housing youth within its charge to safely developing youth competency.” Evans responded by creating yet another committee, which recommended some reforms such as later bedtimes and more recreational programming.

In September, an investigation by Injustice Watch found property records that raised questions about whether Dixon lived in Chicago, as required by his employment contract. Interviews with current and former employees also suggested the superintendent was rarely present at the facility. Dixon insisted he lived in Chicago.

After Injustice Watch began asking questions, Evans’ office hired an outside law firm to look into Dixon’s residency. In September, a spokesperson for Evans said the firm’s investigation concluded the superintendent “resides in Illinois.”

In May 2024, during a county board meeting in which officials were discussing plans to drastically downsize the juvenile detention center, Cook County Commissioner Bridget Degnen said any effort to make significant changes at the juvenile detention center under Dixon would “likely be thwarted because the leadership at the JTDC refuses to implement common sense, pragmatic, expert-related initiatives.”

Officials have not provided an update on those plans.

“This is a golden opportunity for new leadership and a culture change at JTDC,” Degnen said about Dixon’s resignation. “We have lots of choices in how we manage kids in the criminal justice system, and I hope this new chapter centers on their personal growth, mental health and education.”