I’ve been sent down in the ranks due to my refusal to drink “quarters,” my ration of a liter of water on a regular basis, under supervision. [This is to make sure the kids are properly hydrated especially beneath the unforgiving Utah August sun.]

Last week the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) announced the finalists for the 2012 National Magazine Award.  Juvenile-in-Justice was nominated in the News and Documentary Photography section for the photo essay of Juvenile-in-Justice in Harper’s Magazine in October of last year. If you haven’t seen the Juvenile-in-Justice Harper’s essay… see it here:

Big thanks to Rick MacArthur, Stacey Clarkson and everyone at Harper’s.

I came here from Australia. Yeah, this is definitely a switch for me. I was “misbehaving.” I wasn’t getting along with my Mom.

I was 15 when I left home, I am 18 now. My mother sold tortillas and my father sold things on the street. I have six sisters and one brother. I was one of the 18 juveniles working at Agriprocessors Slaughterhouse when ICE raided us in May 2008. Most of the other workers served five months in prison and then were deported.

A, age 18, in Postville, Iowa