Vertical Stripes in Colorado
Young men play a flag football game, self-refereed, during their recreation time in the Orientation Training Phase of Pueblo, Colorado’s Youth Offender System.
The Orientation Training Phase (OTP) of the Youth Offender System (YOS) in Pueblo, Colorado performs both intake and assessment of convicted juveniles. This facility is run boot camp style, with staff screaming commands to the kids constantly. All juveniles here are under juvenile sentences with adult sentences hanging: a mess-up at OTP means they will have to serve their adult sentence. For example, a kid could be there serving a two year juvenile sentence with 15 years hanging. In the juvenile detention system, rarely do they allow contact sports– even flag football.
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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