“They got their facts mixed up”
12th February
I’ve been here for 11 1/2 months and no one has visited me. My Mother is on disability. My Father? don’t know who he is.
Juvenile-in-Justice on NPR
7th February
Yesterday NPR’s The Picture Show ran “An Unusual Glimpse Behind Bars: Juveniles in the Justice System” – a feature on Juvenile-in-Justice.
Big thanks to NPR and writer Dana Farrington.
Architectural access to positive male role models
7th February
I am an honor resident here. I talk to the guard, work in the garden. I do well here. I grew up with some pretty bad people in Watsonville-the city without pity. I’m going to get my GED when I am out.
-A.G. age 17
A good portion of our juvenile justice architecture was built as a fear response to the “super predator” scare of the 90s. This meant building facilities with a primary eye to staff security, confinement and punishment. Far more effective treatment is helping juveniles gain access to positive male role models. This means building a “pony” wall rather than a concrete, brick and glass barricade. Unfortunately, A. was released and then was involved in an altercation at a bowling alley. Firearms were involved. A. is now back in the system.
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A color full population
7th February
Teenagers are a liquid state–Pure plastic. They take the form that is the least resistance. They flow onto horizontal surfaces and swim on floors or benches.
Juvenile-in-Justice on PBS Newshour
6th February
Last week PBS Newshour aired a piece on Juvenile-in-Justice and education for youth in confinement. You can read the article here and watch the video piece below. Big thanks to Michael Fritz and April Brown at PBS.
Letter from an Orleans Parish Prison alumni
3rd February
As a kid I was sent to juvenile hall four times. When I was seventeen I was sent to Orleans Parish Prison for a fistfight. My cellmate there was charged with two counts of first-degree murder. The fear I dealt with there must have given me something close to post traumatic stress disorder. I was locked up about 16 times all before I turned 20. I am passionate about real juvenile justice.
Held three years and eight months without trial
2nd February
“I’ve been here for 3 years and 8 months and haven’t been to trial yet. I came in when I was 13.”
-R.F. age 17, Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, Miami, Florida
This is the first of an on-going series of posts about a young man being held at TGK in Miami. We will post about him once a month and explain his story: the charges against him, the history, circumstances, as well as interviews with his mother, the assistant public defender, and the young man himself.
