I was brought here by transporters–been here 13 days. I have to wear this red jumpsuit because I’m a “flight risk.”

I’m from San Jose. I live with my mother, stepdad, and three sisters. I don’t get along with my stepdad. He’s a contractor. Mom stays at home. I’m a sophomore in high school. Basically, at home I smoke weed, hate school, and just focus a lot on my music. I play guitar–any and every genre. I wasn’t skipping school. My mother doesn’t know me very well. My parents are divorced. I’m more like my dad– something my mom doesn’t like so I just don’t listen to her—she goes against me all the time. My mother hasn’t written me. I am just doing my work. All I want to do is get out of here.

- P.C, age 15

Red Cliff Ascent is a privately owned Wilderness camp outside Springville, Utah. The kids go out into the wilderness and stay there until they are able to build a fire, usually a month. They sleep away from any shelters and live a generally frontier existence. A typical scenario used to involved parents refinancing their homes to pay for the program. Since the sub-prime mortgage meltdown people don’t have the ability to refinance anymore. 

click here for more images of Red Cliff Ascent

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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