I do not believe that an adult jail is an appropriate place for juvenile offenders. The juveniles I was incarcerated with brought the street conflicts with them into the jail. This resulted in an explosive environment. I felt that the guards should have paid more attention. By treating these youth as adults, they only became more aggressive and the hatred just built up inside. Youth my age should not go through this stuff. Many of the young guys I was with came home without a GED. Youth need a special program to help them with reentry and counseling to cope with the trauma of being incarcerated. You return with little education, a felony record, and carrying the emotional burden of experiences in a harsh and violent environment. I work every day to heal from my experiences in the adult system. I am always looking over my shoulder and feel anxious, tense, stiff and angry. If there is anything I can do to keep other youths from undergoing this same experience, I will do it.
"M"
I was born and raised in Washington, DC I was charged as an adult when I was 16. I spent almost a year incarcerated in the DC jail. With a felony conviction on my record, I feel like I'm serving a second sentence: being punished twice. I know that there needs to be consequences for wrong actions, but everyone makes mistakes. Juveniles especially need help to get their lives back on the right track. Right now they are placed in adult facilities that have a lack of education programs, a toxic mental environment, and poor mental and physical health services. This only makes our problems worse and makes a youth more likely to get in worse trouble. My entire time I was in jail I went without any type of schooling, period. Only special ed programs were offered. The only people who gave me books were from the Free Minds Book Club.
Juveniles shouldn't be detained in an adult facility because there is so much violence and negativity. After a while you start to adapt to all the frustration, stress, depression, and violence as if it was a normal way of life. Sooner or later you find yourself always angry and showing a lot of aggression towards everyone. You also become paranoid and have trust issues. It's a totally different world where you have to constantly be aware, and you always have a feeling that someone's trying to get close to you just to hurt you in the end. Once you get released, it's hard sometimes to hang with your family and friends because your state of mind in jail follows you out. Juveniles in adult facilities are learning how to be better criminals, which is only going to lead to more violence and crime. As you can see, the lack of education programs, violent environment, boredom, and poor health and safety make adult facilities the wrong place for juveniles. Youth at the age of 15-18 are supposed to be learning how to become an adult, not how to be a prisoner.
Know This
Laws that prosecute youth as adults are on the books in most states. These laws, combined with other statutes, are putting thousands of young people at risk of facing harmful and irreversible consequences, often for minor mistakes. Some researchers estimate that as many as 200,000 youth are prosecuted as adults every year. Despite overwhelming research demonstrating that these policies have failed, statutes that prosecute youth in the adult criminal justice system remain on the books.
Visit: www.campaignforyouthjustice.org
The Campaign for Youth Justice is dedicated to ending the practice of trying, sentencing and incarcerating youth under the age of 18 in the adult criminal justice system.
Resources: Find Your State Contacts
To contact chapters of parents & family advocacy organizations in your area, consult the following websites:
Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) state chapters:
http://www.famm.org/MeetFAMM/ContactUs.aspx
Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE) state chapters:
http://www.curenational.org/cms/state-chapters.html