Youth Radio - Topic: jail

CJNY Pushes For Juvenile Justice Reform

rgee — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 11:28:33 -0600

This weekend, advocates from all over the country traveled to Washington D.C. to show their support for reauthorizing the Juvenile Justice Delinquency and Prevention Act (JJDPA) and passing the Youth PROMISE (Prison Reduction through Opportunities, Mentoring, Intervention, Support, and Education) Act. The Community Justice Network for Youth held a two-day conference on Saturday and Sunday, and a press conference this morning to urge the Obama administration to change the disciplinary system for young people.

Youth, parents, and advocates will visit their individual legislators after the press conference and show their support for these issues. The overall message of the weekend is that youth are being mistreated while incarcerated, when incarceration is not the most productive solution. In addition, money is being spent in the wrong places.

The speakers at the conference consisted of people with personal testimonials, policy advocates, and directors of youth support services. Youth Radio spoke with two of them to get their personal perspective on the issue.

Rev. Ruben Austria founded the first and only community-based alternative to incarceration program in the Bronx, called BronxConnect. “We took kids with open cases in court, and we convinced the judges to keep them in their own communities in our 12-month program. We got 84 percent of these kids to complete the program, and five years later, these kids were half as likely to get re-arrested, and those who did, were half as likely to commit felonies.” He recently established a new nonprofit, Community Connections for Youth, which will provide support to nonprofits that are interested in serving as alternatives to detention or incarceration.

Austria began doing this work twelve years ago, and soon saw many faults in the juvenile justice system. “Kids who had committed very minor offenses, like hopping the subway turnstyle, shoplifting, or simply being in their own housing projects without proper identification were being incarcerated and never getting out. I saw how the system was so punitive, and targeting only certain young people from low income communities.”

Austria said that when young people are incarcerated in New York, 89 percent of boys reoffend and 81 percent of girls reoffend. He also said that it costs around 240,000 dollars per year to incarcerate one young person. “The money is going to support prisons in upstate New York where the communities are economically dependant on the incarceration of young people from low-income communities. Last month, one young person was killed while being restrained by staff, and another young person hung himself from his shoelaces in New York prisons. It’s a pattern.”

Austria said he was at the conference to support the movement of the people. “The conference has been phenomenal. There are so many people here struggling to do this work in their own corners, who might feel like there are overwhelming odds. But this has created a sense of momentum. We will starve this beast that has been devouring our children.”

Vicky Gunderson is a leading advocate in Wisconsin for keeping kids out of jail. She told the story of her son, Kirk.

“In 2005, when I was out of town, my 17 year-old son stabbed his younger brother and his father multiple times. His father and son were taken to the Intensive Care Unit. I convinced my son to turn himself in to the county police. He was incarcerated in the La Crosse County Prison.

He was supposed to go to court in November, but it was postponed. We had just cut a deal - we weren’t going to be going to trial. However, in jail, the other inmates told Kirk that he needed to give himself a tattoo. They were teaching him how to self-tattoo using a diabetic needle and ink pens. But they got caught. Kirk was taken to the hold. He was feeling anxious and told the guards he didn’t want to be left alone. But they left him alone anyway.

In those isolation cells, they had smoke detection grates. On December 27, Kirk took his own life by tying his sheets to the detection grate and hanging himself.

There are so many other ways that we could be handling juveniles in the system. What my son did was very serious, but when you do assessments and figure out why he took that path, you would see so much more. Kirk had concussions form playing football, and hockey. He was also addicted to oxycotin. He also drank alcohol. Yes, he needed to be accountable, but there were things that led him down that path to start with."

No More Life Without Parole - It's About Time

wilmer — Thu, 20 May 2010 17:22:44 -0500

The following was broadcast on NPR’s All Things Considered

On Monday the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it cruel and unusual punishment to sentence juveniles to life without parole for cases not involving murder. Reginald Dwayne Betts’ story was included in an amicus brief in the case. At 16 years old he was found guilty for carjacking and spent more than nine years in adult prisons. But his sentence could have put him behind bars for life. Youth Radio sent us his story.

By: Reginald Dwayne Betts

I remember meeting a guy even younger than I was, waiting for the bus to go to prison. I'll call him Rashid. His voice still carried the cracks and high notes of adolescence, and his smooth face had never seen a razor. We were headed to Southampton Correctional Center in Virginia.

No fewer than a dozen of us were teenagers, all with peers at home waiting on driver licenses, graduations and proms - while we waited for a prison cell. Rashid's time was legendary: three life sentences with no chance for parole. It meant he awoke each morning knowing he would one day flatline in a cell.

IN PRISON, GUYS told me that Rashid robbed and raped an old lady. His crime had no explanation, and everyone I ever talked to about it thought it was wild, heinous, and unfathomable. Rashid didn’t talk about his charges, and I couldn’t look at him without thinking how his sentence would last until his final breath. In the visiting room, I caught glimpses of his family and it almost seemed normal. Except that Rashid, the youngest among them, rarely smiled. And in prison, surrounded by the violence cells inspire in men, he was just a kid. There was no meanness about him, just the fragility of someone in the deep end, arms flailing, unable to swim.

When I looked at him, I remembered the judge looking down at me, asking if I understood my charges carried a possible life sentence. Rashid wasn't old enough to drive, vote, or serve on a jury of his peers - but he was old enough to walk out of a courtroom with a sentence that ends in a casket. After I met him, my nine-year sentence for carjacking seemed like a gift.

Everything I did while incarcerated meant something because I could envision a day when I'd be free, and that vision pushed me. Because I had a release date, I recognized that the time was a way for me to improve myself. Seventeen hours each day to read, study and exercise - to think and become a man far different than the sixteen-old boy who plead guilty to carjacking.

As teenagers, our lives are impulse and reaction. I'm not the same person I was at 16. No one is. Juvenile offenders who are years away from the maturity and sensibility of a 25 or 30 year old, need to know that society believes they can be more than their crimes. They need to know we believe rehabilitation is NOT ONLY POSSIBLE BUT real.

All any incarcerated minor wants to believe, is that life can be more than a series of cell doors.

Editor’s Note: Since being released from prison, Reginald Dwayne Betts graduated from the University of Maryland where he served as the commencement speaker. He’s published two books, and this year is the recipient of the NAACP Image Award and a Soros Justice Fellowship.

Man Released From Prison

zwest — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:56:48 -0600

According to ABC news On Friday , 26 year old Raymond Taylor of New York was arrested. The previous day he had been released by mistake from the Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center. Taylor was serving three life sentences for killing his ex girlfriend and two teenaged daughters, which he was convicted for in 2005. Unfortunately he was placed in a cell with another prisoner who shared similar characteristics with him. Taylor’s cellmate was being released from prison and instead, Taylor took his cell’s mate ID card. When being released he was asked to recite the ID number and he did, twice. The mistake was discovered when Taylor’s cellmate began kicking on the cell door and yelling, asking to be released. Taylor was arrested when he was found at his friend’s home in Martinsburg, W.Va. Doesn’t this make you think about how secure prisons and jails are? If it’s this easy for a prisoner to escape, how safe is the public? If this continues to happen there will be a lot of convicts on the loose, waiting to commit other crimes. Because of this incident prisoners will probably start thinking of more ways to escape with the knowledge that Raymond Taylor had.

Exonerated after 35 years

denise — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:12:39 -0600

Can you imagine being locked up for 35 years for a crime you didn’t commit? That’s the case for 54-year-old James Brain. He was recently released after a DNA test showed he did not kidnap and rape a 9-year-old boy in 1974. Brain was 19-years-old when he was charged.

Brain represents one of 247 people exonerated by DNA testing. Innocence project is a national organization helping exonerated innocent people through DNA testing and according to them no else has spent more time in jail than Brain.

In a press conference Brain—wearing a T-shirt with “Not Guilty”—said "I'm not angry. I got God in my head. I knew one day he will reveal me."

I can't imagine how hard its going to be for him to transition to prison life to actual life.

Full story on CNN

Previously:

New York's Juvenile Prisons in Crisis

rpereira — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:30:33 -0600

New York’s system of juvenile prisons is broken, with young people battling addiction or mental illness held alongside violent offenders says a new report out by a state panel. The report outlines how juveniles are held in abysmal facilities where they receive little counseling, can be physically abused and rarely get even a basic education.

The state agency overseeing the prisons has asked New York’s Family Court judges not to send youths to any of them unless they are a significant risk to public safety -- recommending alternatives, like therapeutic foster care.

The report, comes three months after a federal investigation found that excessive force was routinely used at four prisons, resulting in injuries as severe as broken bones and shattered teeth. The situation was so serious the Department of Justice, which made the investigation, threatened to take over the system.

According to the task force, the problems uncovered at the four prisons are endemic to the entire system, which houses about 900 young people at 28 facilities around the state.

While some prisons for violent and dangerous offenders should be preserved, the report calls for most to be replaced with a system of smaller centers closer to the communities where most of the families of the imprisoned youth live.

(via The New York Times)

Previously:

U.S. Shouldn't Jail Youth For Life

brett — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:36:09 -0600

By: Reginald Dwayne Betts

Monday the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in two cases concerning juvenile incarceration. The ruling could determine if it should be unconstitutional to sentence juveniles to life without parole for non-homicide offenses on the grounds of cruel and unusual punishment. The United States is the only country in the world that sentences juveniles to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

My story is part of an amicus brief asking justices to reverse the harsh sentences, and give young offenders an opportunity to become productive citizens. I was a juvenile offender who spent more than nine years in adult prison, and my offense could have put me in there for life. Since I've gotten out of prison, I delivered my college commencement address at the University of Maryland, I published my memoir A Question Of Freedom, and I entered grad school. I'm making the most of my freedom, but I know others who will never have the same shot at redemption.

I met guy even younger than me waiting for the bus to go to prison. I'll call him Rashid. His voice still carried the cracks and high notes of adolescence, and his smooth face had never seen a razor. We were headed to Southampton Correctional Center in Virginia.

No fewer than a dozen of us were teenagers, all with peers at home waiting on driver's licenses, graduations and proms - while we waited for a prison cell. Rashid's time was legendary: three life sentences with no chance for parole. It meant he awoke each morning knowing he would one day flatline in a cell.

I looked at him, and I remembered the judge looking down at me, asking if I understood my charges could carry a life sentence. Rashid wasn't old enough to drive, vote, or serve on a jury of his peers - but he was old enough to walk out of a courtroom with a sentence that ends in a casket. After I met Rashid, my nine-year sentence for carjacking seemed like a gift.

Everything I did while incarcerated meant something to me because I could envision a day when I'd be free, and that vision pushed me. There were others who guided me: Jose who helped me teach myself Spanish, Mike G who pushed me to study law. They, too, could see a life not defined by bars and cuffs - but for too many people the violence of prison stifled dreams. Over six months I watched Rashid experience things that would leave anyone lost in depression: theft, beatings, the cloud of rape. A life sentence makes that permanent.

There is an absolute loss of hope for juveniles sentenced to life in prison. A life sentence without parole makes it far too easy to become a part of the violent world of prison, as predator or prey.

I can't imagine what I would have done had the judge sentenced me to life. I can't imagine walking around daily knowing a grave was my only way out. Because I had a release date, I recognized that the time was a way for me to improve myself. Seventeen hours each day to read, study and exercise - to think and become a man far different than the sixteen-old boy who plead guilty to carjacking.

As teenagers, our lives are impulse and reaction. I'm not the same person I was at 16. No one is. The difference between a person at 16 years old and 25 or 30 years old is huge. Juvenile offenders, who are years away from the maturity and sensibility of a 25 or 30 year old, need to know that society believes there is a possibility that they can be more than their crimes. They need to know that society believes rehabilitation is real.

All any incarcerated juvenile wants to believe is that their life can be more than a series of cell doors.

Previously:

Crime. Punishment. Entertainment

ahowell — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 17:46:27 -0500

You’ve heard the news and followed the trial. We hung on to every development. We posted comments on numerous articles, adding drops of water into the oceans of commentary. These perpetrators of crime were not like those we’ve come across in the streets or in news reports that lead the hour; these perps are famous. We’ve known them before they committed their crimes. They slipped into the back of our subconscious as they began serving their sentences. When these folks are released, having paid their debts to society, it’s as though they never left prison. We write them off as renegades. They may have served their time, but they are never released from the stigma of their crimes.

A month after pleading guilty to felony assault charges of his then girlfriend, Rihanna, Chris Brown released an apology video via his record label, taking ownership of his actions. Already, web commentators dismissed his apology as being insincere. Articles around the web began circulating, questioning what other motives Brown might have for a public apology, other than salvaging his manhood, like getting back in good graces with awards shows, for example. While I can say that accounts of Chris Brown actions were extremely inappropriate, I cannot say I am willing to DEFINE him by those actions. Sadly, he is, and will be forever branded as a “woman beater” by the media writers, whose keyboards will serve as cattle branders.

Up and coming rap artist, Gucci Mane, who has been in and out of prison since his first single, “So Icey”, went national in 2005, is currently under threat of going back for failing a mandatory parole drug screening. On Sunday, July 19th, however, the Twitter population started spreading the word that the Atlanta rapper was actually IN jail based on a tweet from associate, Soulja Boy. It came out later that day that Gucci was actually not in jail at the time, but not before a great chunk of the “Twopulation” added their two cents on whether Gucci should be a free man or not. “Charlamagne the God,” co-host of the Wendy Williams show, even started a topic trend lampooning the rapper.

While Chris Brown’s offense is fairly new, and Gucci Mane’s legal status is frequently updated, what about stars who have completely served their time for crimes committed? Former NFL quarterback Michael Vick was just released after completing a sentence for animal cruelty for his part in a dog fighting ring. PETA, an animal rights activist organization, announced that they do not feel Vick is “entitled to regain his spot in the NFL.” While PETA may feel they should have a say on whether Vick should be allowed to play football, by not allowing him the regain his life in dignity, they not only undermine his right to freedom, they undermine the justice system that agrees 20 months for such an offense is just. It would be different if Vick was a zookeeper, but he’s a football quarterback, whose only professional contact with animals would be folks dressed as mascots. Not only is Michael Vick threatened to be branded a “dog fighter” forever regardless of if he continues to commit those crimes, but teams that support him will likely face protest -- as if choosing the Vick to lead players on the field is the equivalent of promoting dog fighting.

It’s been rumored that celebrities are people, too -- people like us who might make legal missteps. But should being defined by the least of one’s actions be considered the price of fame? Michael Jackson was labeled a “child molester” in the media for more than a decade, and even though he was never found guilty of such conduct, he wasn’t cleared of public suspicion (kinda) until his death in June. You shouldn’t have to die in order to regain your dignity in the public eye, especially when the public eye has blurred vision and is only focused on the shadows.

Previously:

From High School To High Security

brett — Thu, 21 May 2009 13:48:21 -0500

Reginald Dwayne Betts went from the high school honor roll to the penitentiary. He spent 9 years in adult prison beginning at age 16, for car jacking in Virginia. Tonight he'll be the first person in his family to graduate from college, and more than that, he'll deliver the student commencement address at the University of Maryland. Betts beat the odds in a big way. Recidivism rates are already high within the juvenile justice system, and they're 34% higher for youth tried as adults. The Senate is currently considering the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA), a bill that would make it harder to place youth in adult jails. Reginald Dwayne Betts looks back on everything he’s endured to get where he is today.

By: Reginald Dwayne Betts

When I was 16 years old, I was certified as an adult and sentenced to nine years in prison. I was certified because I had a robbery charge and in the state of Virginia if you have a robbery, murder or rape, you can automatically be certified as an adult and so I was rubberstamped and sent into the system.

When they sent me from the juvenile detention center to the Fairfax County jail, at the time they had a sight and sound policy and that meant that juveniles couldn’t be within the sight or the sound of adults. Because they didn’t have the proper facilities to hold me in the jail, they put me in solitary confinement. I didn’t have a mattress, I didn’t have a blanket, I didn’t have a pillow and I only had the clothes that I wore on my back for seven days.

You know, that sort of prepared me to understand that jail was not designed to be in my best interest and there wasn’t anybody that I could complain to.

The reality is that in prison people care about your ability to protect yourself or to do whatever you need to do to survive. If you’re younger, you aren’t prepared physically or emotionally to deal with prison. It took me seven years in prison before I talked to a mental health worker. And, um, I had spent time in two super maximum security prisons, I had spent over a year in isolation, not once was I asked, you know, how was my mental health.

For my first, you know, four to six years, no matter where I went, I would be the youngest person in the block that I was in. If I marked an adolescent shift, it was when somebody younger than me asked me for some advice, that’s when I realized that, you know, I’m basically growing up in a jail cell.

Like, I have all of these memories in my head that have replaced the adolescent markers. Like, I was in a cell below someone that beat a man to death. And I remember the guards carrying the dead prisoner on a gurney like the nurses pushing him down the walkway, banging on his chest, trying to revive him.

The thing is, what are you gonna do with all the memories that you have once you leave prison? And, I mean, that’s the question posed to all the young people who get sent to prison. Because it’s like, you will accumulate these memories and a lot of them won’t be good, and the thing becomes, what will you do with all those memories once you get home?

Additional Resources:

The Campaign for Youth Justice (CFYJ) is dedicated to ending the practice of trying, sentencing, and incarcerating youth under 18 in the adult criminal justice system.

Reginald Dwayne Betts' memoir will be published in August by Penguine Books.

Act 4 Juvenile Justice is a coalition of youth advocacy groups organized around Congressional reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA).