Girls-in-Justice: Wrong placement, detention, sex trafficking / by richard ross

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“I’m eight months pregnant. It’s exciting, but really scary. My sisters both have kids. I was running away to my boyfriend’s in XXXX. He’s a junior. I always felt I needed him to be loved and to help out. I got pregnant on purpose. We don’t believe in abortion. My only crime was running away. And I’ve been here more than nine times. I’ve been here two weeks. I was very selfish for not thinking of the baby. CPS says they’re going to take the baby away but I’m going to fight for her. My mother and sisters visit. My dad died six years ago. They shot him 18 times. He was in the Mexican Mafia. He died when I was 10. I’ve been messing up since them. Heroin. Meth. E. Inhalants. Crack. I was doing a lot of drugs when I was first pregnant but now I’ve been sober for four months. This unit is the drug treatment unit.”

— C.M. Age 16

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