U.T, age 14, at Oak Creek Youth Correctional Facility. All images by Richard Ross for Juvenile-in-Justice.

I came in when I was 12. Now I’m 14. I attempted arson. I hope to be leaving in a few days and go to Lithia Springs in Klamath (RTC). No one visits me here – really no one. I don’t have a mom. I was in foster care and then adopted, but my adopted parents disowned me. I have a brother who I lived with. I tried to set fire to my house and my foster home. Drugs and alcohol weren’t involved, nothing.
 

I’m in the wrong place here, I just sit around and kick it. I don’t get much treatment. I need DBT (dialectical behavior therapy) or ART (aggressive replacement treatment). I weigh 97 pounds, I’m 4’10. I have anger issues. I’m happy you’re taking my picture. I haven’t had anyone take my picture in years. I had a picture taken at my cousins wedding when I was about 10. I’m not sure why I tried to burn down my house. I felt like I wasn’t wanted. I couldn’t say these things at the time… I’m learning to do that now that I’m here. I’m a really good student. I’m a freshman now. I’ll probably go from Lithia to another foster home. I don’t know who my mother was – she gave me up when I was an infant. I have no fantasy about meeting her.
 

 
My favorite color is blue. My favorite food is ice cream with salt and pepper. I love old quotes like, “Don’t tell me the sky is the limit when there are footprints on the moon.” I love country music, rock, and jazz. I love the Beatles… the Stones are okay. There is no sexual abuse that I know of. I think that when I was 3 or 4, when I was really young, something happened – but I don’t remember. It comes up when we have group, which is every day of the week.

I’d like to be a catalogue model.

- U.T, age 14, at Oak Creek Youth Correctional Facility in Albany, Oregon.

See all the images from Oak Creek HERE. 

Richard Ross

Richard Ross is the Executive Director of www.juvenile-in-justice.com and Juvenile-in-Justice. He is the principal photographer for the Juvenile-in-Justice project and travels frequently throughout the country to photograph and interview incarcerated children. Ross lectures frequently and has spoken at the Vera Institute of Justice, the 7th Annual Models for Change Conference, JDAI conferences, The Justice for Youth Summit, and many more. He is the author of Juvenile-in-Justice the book which received the American Library Association's 2013 Alex Award. He has been the recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Fulbright, and the Center for Cultural Innovation. Ross has taught at the University of California, Santa Barbara since 1977.

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