San Quentin News

Written By Incarcerated - Advancing Social Justice

Germany progressive juvenile justice approach

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Germany’s progressive treatment of its youth offenders in its criminal justice system leads to fewer youths in adult prisons, lower recidivism, and lesser sentences.
“Germany is probably the ‘grandfather’ of special treatment for emerging adults in all of Europe. In 1953, German law was changed to allow youth up to age 21 when they committed their offense to be tried as juveniles,” The Crime Report reported.
As a result of this approach, 66 percent of emerging adults who committed a crime were sentenced as juveniles. This includes more than 90 percent of those who had committed homicide and rape, according to The Crime Report.
Under juvenile law in Germany, those age 18 and under cannot be tried or sentenced under adult law.
However, “young people can receive sentences of up to 10 years. But they rarely do. Fewer than 1 percent receive sentences of five to 10 years; fewer than 5 percent receive sentences of between three and five years,” the Crime Report reported.
What is the net effect of this lenient approach toward offenders?
Incarceration rate in Germany is nine times lesser than the U.S. (76 per 100,000 vs. 693 per 100,000) according to The Crime Report.
Their lower incarceration rate is attributed to their approach toward criminal justice.
“The German system prioritizes diversion and minimized interventions, mediation and restorative practices, and educational community sanctions. Community service and direct payments can be geared to repaying victims through labor or even direct compensation. Deprivation of liberty is a last resort,” according to The Crime Report.
“Children (under 14 years), juveniles (14-17) and young adults (18-20) have the right to support and education and to be protected in their personal development by the child and youth welfare agencies.”
The rehabilitative nature of Germany’s youth system is modeled by its Young Offender Institution at Neustrelitz Prison.
According to the Report, it’s not easy for a youth to be given a prison term in Germany, so when one is sent to Neustrelitz, they tend to be in for violent offenses. Unlike penal institutions in America, youths there are offered an assortment of vocational programming like woodworking, metal working, culinary instruction and farming.
Youths in the facility are also served tasty meals with real knives and forks, “Nowhere was there the sense of fear and heavy correctional hardware, such as pepper spray, solitary confinement, and strip searching, that dominates the U.S. correctional landscape,” according to The Crime Report.
“Clearly, there are substantial cultural differences between the U.S. and Europe…No one expects to go to Croatia, Germany, and the Netherlands and borrow their systems wholesale…” but that doesn’t mean that we have nothing to learn,” the article added.

San Quentin News & Wall City Merchandise

139 prisoners nationwide were exonerated in 2017

Prison reform could free 30,000 inmates says CSJ


https://sanquentinnews.com/new-law-keeps-peace-officers-interrogating-juveniles-2/
 

29 years in prison is enough for Mike Webb

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Mike Webb at Kid CAT banquet


After six parole hearings and 29 years in prison, Mike Webb, a beloved Kid CAT member, was found suitable for parole.
“Mike Webb is one of the most compassionate and committed persons that I know,” said Charlie Spence, Kid CAT Chairman. “We will all miss him very much, because he has been such a positive impact in our group and in this community.”
The youngest of three children, Webb was born and raised in Los Angeles by his single mother.
“Growing up without a father was tough,” he says. “I didn’t have anyone I could turn to, to learn how to be a man.”
At the age of 5, Webb’s father left his family to be with another woman and her kids, which left him with deep insecurities and resentments.
“My life began to spiral out of control when my father left,” Webb says. “When he left, I felt rejected and that I wasn’t worthy of his love.”
From the ages of 5 to 10, his grandfather tried to fill the role of a father.
“The only thing that kept me going was my grandfather,” he says. “But when he got murdered, I just gave up on life and sunk into depression and became numb.”
The absence of a paternal figure led to behavioral problems and expulsion from 10 different schools.
“I became very destructive and took my anger out on other kids at school,” he says.
When Webb got into his teens, he turned to the streets.
“I wanted things that my mother couldn’t provide for me, so I started robbing individuals in the neighborhood,” he says. “Robbing people gave me a sense of power and control that I didn’t have in my own life and I became addicted to that power.”
His addiction to robbery would result in a murder during a botched carjacking.
“Four days after committing my crime, I was arrested for first-degree murder-robbery,” he says.
After being convicted, Webb was sentenced to 25 years-to-life at the age of 19.
“I didn’t know what 25 years-to-life meant,” he says. “When it finally sank in, I didn’t think I was ever going to get out.”
In prison, Webb continued the same behavior.
“When I came to prison, my mentality was that I wasn’t going to be no punk or victim, so I victimized others,” he says. “I would run into people’s cell and take their properties, clothes, canteen and jewelry.”
In 1997, Webb was sent to solitary confinement for extorting people.
Over the course of his incarceration, Webb accumulated seven write-ups ranging from disobeying staff to inmate battery.
In 2002, Webb had an intervention at the behest of his building officer.
“The C.O.s asked my cellmate to talk to me, because I was out of control,” Webb says. “So my cellie sat me down and talked to me like he was my father and told me that if I ever wanted to get out of prison, I needed to change, and that he would help me.
“That’s when I started to change my behavior and started attending Alcoholics Anonymous, which I still continue till this day.”
But the change for Webb didn’t come easy; his past would repeatedly come back to haunt him.
“From my first board appearance in 2004 to the next four hearings in 2010, 2011, 2015 and 2016, my extortion charges in 1997 played a role in me being denied parole,” Webb says.
Taking the lessons he had learned, he would often share his testimony with the youths he interacts with.
“I mentor at-risk youths through a program here called Real Choices, and I also write for The Beat Within, a youth publication,” Webb says.
Through his job assignment in Receiving and Release, Webb shares his experience with newly arrived young prisoners.
“I try to help them understand the consequences of their decisions that they make here in prison and the impact it can have on their families because of those choices,” he says.
“Today, I realize that I not only harmed my family, but the choices I made have also caused irreparable harm to my victims and community.”
On March 8 Webb was found suitable for parole.

San Quentin News & Wall City Merchandise

Native American women breaking cycles

Parole Date Cancellations By Governor Devastate Prisoners and Families

Life After Murder by Nancy Mullane


 

Project Avary sets benefit march

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Project Avary sponsors with inmates walking on the Lower Yard

Project Avary sponsors with inmates walking on the Lower Yard

San Quentin’s Kid CAT group and the Project Avary organization are preparing for the Second Annual “Walk for the Next Generation” on the prison’s Lower Yard.

The event brings support and solidarity to children of incarcerated parents. The men of San Quentin march alongside Project Avary alumni and staff to raise money that provides long-term aid for the children.

“We intervene early in the lives of kids at the ages of 8 to 11, and we make a long-term 10-year commitment to each child and family,” said Zach Whelan, Project Avary’s executive director.

Project Avary is a year-round program. It provides a summer camp for the children so they can connect with the outdoors. The program has weekly weekend outings and retreats throughout the school year for the kids.

Results from the study out of UC Irvine suggest the passage of Proposition 47 in 2014 “has had no effect on violent crimes, including homicide, rape, aggravated assault and robbery,” The Orange Country Register said. https://www.ocregister.com/2018/03/07/is-proposition-47-responsible-for-crime-increases-in-california/

Project Avary is a community where kids find support with other kids who are going through similar experiences because they have an incarcerated parent.

This year’s event promises to be bigger than the last. Your attendance and donation would truly be welcomed.

2nd ANNUAL PROJECT AVARY MARCH FOR THE NEXT GENERATION

Saturday, Sept. 8, 2018, at 9 a.m.

There will be testimonials, music, poetry, spoken word and rapping. Come and meet some of the young adults whose lives have been changed by Project Avary.

Please join us by participating in the march and/or donating money.

Supporters can donate at www.projectavary.org/sanquentinwalks

http://sanquentinnews.com/optionb-org-support-group-overcoming-effects-incarceration/

Fathers and families: A traditional celebration

Reflecting on being a mother and parent

Veterans’ 29th annual Toys-for-Tots giveaway

Borey Ai is out of prison, but he’s still not a free man

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Tung Nguyen, Borey Ai, Ben Wang and Kasi Chakravartula

Borey (PJ) Ai has served his sentence in the California prison system, but he is not yet a free man. Even as he walks the streets of San Francisco and rejoins his family in Stockton, he can’t loosen up, can’t let his guard down.

“This could be temporary. Any day this could be taken away,” said Ai, who is under the supervision of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and could at any time be deported to Cambodia, a country he has never set foot in. A black GPS ankle monitor sits just above his right Nike, sending his whereabouts to ICE officers.

Jonathan Simon, professor at the UC Berkeley Law School and a member of the Haas Institute’s Diversity and Democracy research cluster, says that most public attention has been focused on deportees who have committed non-violent crimes, but he believes that ex-offenders facing deportation after committing violent crimes deserve consideration if they have genuinely been rehabilitated.

“While his crime was serious and violent, he has undertaken the very hard work of recovery and earned parole at a time when that requires definitive evidence of remorse and rehabilitation,” Simon said in an email.

A few months before he was scheduled to be released, Ai got word that he had an immigration hold. As an undocumented immigrant who had committed a felony, he was likely to be deported. Before this news, he had had no idea that he was a citizen of Cambodia. He doesn’t speak Khmer and has no surviving family in the country. When he left San Quentin, ICE agents were at the gates waiting for him.

“I’m a permanent resident. I didn’t know about my immigration consequences at all until they came to pick me up,” Ai said.

Although Ai, 37, has Cambodian nationality, he was born in a Thai refugee camp in 1981 to parents who were fleeing the Khmer Rouge regime. When he was four, his parents relocated the family to Santa Ana, California, and from there north to Stockton. The area they settled in was marked by violence, and the Ai family spoke no English.

When he was in first grade, Ai saw his seven-year-old cousin and four other children shot to death in the Cleveland Elementary School mass shooting. “I never felt safe in America, but now I was numb to everything,” Ai said in a 2016 interview with San Quentin News.

The violence in Cambodia had traumatized his parents, and both suffered from PTSD. Ai said his father was a gambling and alcohol addict and his mother was overburdened with six kids to raise. Searching for community, Ai started running with a gang in Stockton at age 10. He was a full-fledged gang member by age 12.

Two years later, Ai was trying to impress older friends, and joined them when they asked him to rob a store with them. During the robbery, Ai said he killed the owner of the store. He turned himself in, was tried as an adult, and at age 14, he was sentenced to 25 years to life for second-degree murder with a gun enhancement. Ultimately, Ai served 20 years before he was deemed suitable for parole in 2016.

In prison, Ai became a model of rehabilitation, according to many prison staff. He became a leader in numerous volunteer programs, such as San Quentin’s SQUIRES, which mentors at-risk youth, and facilitated classes to help incarcerated men process trauma through programs like Restoring Our Original True Selves (ROOTS), Guiding Rage Into Power (GRIP) and Kid C.A.T., a program for juvenile offenders. He also started a chapter of Criminal Gang Members Anonymous (CGA) at San Quentin, and co-founded a leadership ambassador class.

Ai also became a California certified rape and crisis counselor with Bay Area Women Against Rape (Bay-WAR), a domestic violence counselor with GRIP, and a certified addiction treatment counselor. In addition, he appeared with other juvenile lifers in a 2015 documentary called The Mask You Live In which addresses the issue of masculinity. In prison, Ai thought of himself as a “community health advocate” and looked forward to continuing his work when he was released from San Quentin.

Ai’s case is not unique. It is one of many in a ramping up of deportations in recent months. In early April, 43 Cambodians, many of whom fled as children, were separated from their families and repatriated to Cambodia. According to The New York Times, ICE tracks 1,900 Cambodians who are subject to orders of removal from the United States. Since 2002, 600 Cambodians who were permanent residents have been sent back to Cambodia.

“A lot of people don’t realize that even if you’re a permanent resident that you can be deported,” Ai’s lawyer Jean Lantz, an immigration specialist, said. “Some of the compelling things about (Ai’s) story do not have legal significance to the immigration board.”

To Simon, these deportations amount to exile. “The real reason to reject deportation in such cases is that doing so is cruel and unusual punishment and disrespects human dignity,” he said. “To exile them from the only social world they have ever really known is to tear asunder the social ties and cultural knowledge that makes a truly human life possible”.

During the 18 months he was in ICE detention, Ai felt powerless, he said. Kept in Sacramento’s Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center, Ai says he was shocked and damaged by the center’s purposeful sleep deprivation tactics and inhospitable surroundings. He didn’t have opportunities to exercise or engage in the work that gave him purpose when at San Quentin. “It was physically and spiritually breaking me down,” he said.

Ai is on the outside because once his removal order became final, the government could only detain him if his removal was imminent. The government decided to release him until the time comes that ICE can deport him to Cambodia. His community, including the Asian Prisoner Support Committee (APSC), where he works as an intern, has rallied behind him. Although Ai’s community has worked to fight his removal order, they are running out of options. They have appealed the removal by the Immigration Board to a federal appeals court, arguing that his deportation would violate the Convention Against Torture treaty. Ai is also seeking clemency from the governor, which would remove the grounds for his removal from the U.S.

During the war, in order to survive, Ai’s mother and aunt were forced to become a part of the Khmer Rouge regime. He fears that that history would haunt him if he were to be sent to Cambodia, where the wounds of the war in Southeast Asia are still yet to heal.

‘Welcome Home!’ messages cover the Facebook page that Ai has set up for himself. There are messages from family and friends and people he has met along the way, wishing him luck and expressing eagerness to reconnect on the outside. His network is wide and composed of the formerly incarcerated, activists and family.

“This is my country,” PJ said. “I’ve lived here since I was four. I pledged allegiance to the flag when I was a kid. Sending me back is another punishment. I already did my time.”

Deportation Crimes Explained


http://sanquentinnews.com/optionb-org-support-group-overcoming-effects-incarceration/

ROOTS graduates learn inter-generational trauma

KID CAT graduates 43 in its fourth cycle

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With a class of 43, the largest graduating class yet, a group of inmate facilitators and advisors were in a boisterous mood as they prepared the certificates for the fourth graduating cycle of Kid CAT’s (Creating Awareness Together) First Step curriculum on a Sunday evening this spring.

The ARC building was set up for a celebration with nametags on chairs for all the graduates as they waited outside the building. As do all groups, the attendees signed in as they filtered into the ARC building.

The graduates completed a 28-week three-phase childhood development curriculum of eight modules. The philosophy of first offering a safe place for men to process the consequences of their upbringing was on full display at the March 24.

The First Step curriculum explores the root causes of criminal thinking and violent behavior as well as ways to address those factors through written assignments, self-exploration, lectures and group discussions.

An inmate-created group, Kid CAT has a full range of inmate facilitators across the racial and age spectrums of California prisoners. They all have in common not so much their crimes as the age they committed them. Many minors were sentenced as adults.

“64% of California’s jail population is awaiting trial or sentencing as of December 2016.” Most remain in pretrial custody because they cannot afford bail.  Jail Profile Survey, http://www.bscc.ca.gov/

There are two regular meetings: one for Kid CAT lifers on Sunday afternoons, and the general Kid CAT group that meets on Sunday evenings in the ARC room.

Lizzie Buchen at the Kid C.A.T. Banquet

At the graduation, co-lead facilitators Natalie Bell and Shadeed “Sha” Wallace-Stepter introduced the graduates and passed out the certificates. Wallace-Stepter warned the group that “after graduation, we are going to go into games and you can win prizes. Sit close to people in your circle…

Fateen Jackson, an inmate facilitator, gave an emotionally charged rap performance about consequences, “not just from my crime but also for my redemption. You need regret to begin ‘my mission for redemption,’ to be forgiven. To an end, this is our mission for redemption.”

“…childhood adversity and stress can chemically change the way our brain works,” said Dr. Robert Anda, a medical epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and developer of the Adverse Childhood Experiences or ACE survey to The New York Times in “Linking Childhood Trauma to Prison’s Revolving Door” nytimes.com/national

Next they took a break for a game that took up most of the evening. It was an opportunity for the graduates, inmate facilitators and outside advisors to act out emotions as individuals and as teams.

The process: Call up the outside facilitators and inmates to present an emotion.

They performed a “perp-walk”… a way to have the outside facilitators interact with the men.

Compete as teams—all a good-natured expression of showing and recognizing emotions.

Travis Westly ran the game, ribbed all the participants, and followed up with a second game to act out one of the eight modules:

Masculinity

Self-Identities

Identifying Emotions

Communication

Environmental Influences

Consequences

Empathy/Compassion

Forgiveness

Eddie Herena, one of the Fourth Cycle graduates, said, “It took about eight months to finish the class, and it was time well-spent. To me, if you take one self-help group you’ve taken them all, but Kid CAT was different. Each of the eight modules led to the same place, a place where I could learn to forgive myself.”

Charlie Spence, chairman of Kid CAT, made an extra effort to congratulate everyone on making it through a complete cycle given the numerous lockdowns that had extended the group’s sessions.

“Our hope is that this is the first step of the work and my hope is that Kid CAT has given you an insight to yourself and families. Special thanks to Natalie, who does an amazing job of organizing. Thank you for inviting outside folks that can consider joining Kid CAT,” Spence said.

Kid C.A.T. members share their personal stories in
hopes of inspiring the troubled youth to change their lives

When asked about the plans for Kid CAT, Spence said, “We seek to be more inclusive. We have voted to reserve 10 percent of our membership capacity for those who committed their crimes between the ages of 20 to 25.”

Kid CAT facilitator curriculum now available

Kid CAT’s new chair seeks to build meaningful relationships


http://sanquentinnews.com/kid-cat-symposium-highlights-value-of-rehabilitation/

Professor teaches next generation through video


 
Boatwright

Resilience: A key factor in growth

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Successful adults who overcame difficult childhoods have one thing in common – resilience, according to social scientists.

“The dictionary defines resilience as elasticity, which is the ability to recover quickly, and easily…these images are fine for describing recovery from short-term problems, but they don’t capture how resiliency truly works and feels,” said Dr. Meg Jay, author of Supernormal: The Untold Story of Adversity and Resilience.

“The most common childhood adversities aren’t one-time events but chronic sources of stress: bullying, neglect, physical or sexual abuse, the death of a parent or sibling, addiction or mental illness in the home, domestic violence.”

“‘Whatever does not kill us may indeed make us stronger’”

A resilient person does not just rebound from a traumatic experience. What they do is more complex. Resilience is an on-going battle, a way of approaching life, according to Dr. Jay.

Children are at high risk for future problems when they experience four or more adversities at birth, such as poverty, family discord, alcoholism or mental illness in the home, according to a 40-year Kauai Longitudinal Study of 698 individuals.

“There are over 4,800 legal restrictions facing people with convictions  after sentence completion…73% of these legal barriers are permanent.”

“SAFE AND SOUND: …” by Californians For Safety and Justice Nov. 2017 

“Two-thirds of these high-risk children went on to have difficulties of their own, such as delinquency, unplanned pregnancies and underemployment,” The Wall Street Journal reported.

The other one-third performed average to above-average at school and work, in comparison to their peers who posed low-risk from affluent stable homes. In adulthood, they found supportive partners and built loving families, according to the report.

How did they do it?

According to Dr. Jay, “They were active problem-solvers who, over a period of decades, fought for better lives for themselves…they used whatever strengths they had to their advantage – a particular talent, an engaging personality, a ready intelligence.

“They sought out friends, teachers, neighbors or relatives who cared. They made plans to better themselves and set ambitious but realistic goals for the future.”

Some notable celebrities cited who overcame childhood adversities: relatives sexually abused Oprah Winfrey, Howard Schultz of Starbucks grew up in a housing project, and John D. Rockefeller’s father was a con man and was often absent.

Those who have experienced some adversity tend to have higher functioning and more satisfaction in their lives compared with those who had no experience of adversity, according to a 2010 University of Buffalo study, by psychologist Mark Seery.

Seery also concluded that, “in partial agreement with Nietzsche, that ‘in moderation, whatever does not kill us may indeed make us stronger.’”

“When life inevitably becomes difficult…Resist the defeat in your own mind…Reach out to family, friends or professionals who care,” said Dr. Jay.

It is a myth that resilient people don’t need help. Seeking support is what resilient people do.

California’s early release programs ACP

Prison reform could free 30,000 inmates says CSJ

Young offenders learn expression through poetry

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Niece Jessica, Vince Smith and daughter Ania

Niece Jessica, Vince Smith and daughter Ania

For nearly 15 years New Earth, a nonprofit organization, has served incarcerated and formerly incarcerated youth throughout Southern California.

New Earth provides youth offenders in juvenile halls, group homes and probation camps with a support system and mentorship program. The organization also has a reentry center that caters to the needs of youths ages 13-25 upon their release. 

“Our first program was just really a poetry program,” Harry Grammer, founder of New Earth, told the San Quentin News. “We wanted to give opportunities to young people that were incarcerated, a way to express themselves in places where there is no expression.”

This program became the “Fluent Love of Words” (FLOW,) where creative writing, spoken word and poetry workshops helped the youth express their lives through writing.

Within the FLOW program the young people record their poetry to the musical “beats” they create. The students then learn how to edit and engineer their own CDs. When the class is completed, the students hold a showcase and perform in front of their peers and facility staff.

These workshops are held in different detention centers throughout the Los Angeles and Orange County areas. The program is also in Camp Gonzales, Camp Miller and Pacific Lodge Boys Home.

Grammer was once a troubled youth himself – including an arrest at 16 and five years of juvenile probation – an experience that inspired him to become a youth advocate.

“I was bumping my head around until I got into my late 20s,” said Grammer. “I became a teenaged father and started turning my life around. I even spent a short time homeless.”

Being homeless is how Grammer came up with the name New Earth for his organization. He said he was living in a tent on the beach and sleeping on the earth.

“I wanted a New Earth for myself, I wanted a new life for myself,” said Grammer, “so the name New Earth. I attached it to the organization and now it’s turning into something bigger.”

Grammer moved New Earth beyond the prison walls and built a support system for youths returning home.

“There’s a high recidivism rate in Los Angeles,” said Grammer. “I had gone to my ninth funeral of students that were in my classes. You start to realize great programs in jails just aren’t enough to make a real big impact as needed.”

Upon release, the young people can go to the New Earth Arts & Leadership Center located in Culver City. The youth receive a case manager and a variety of services such as career and job training, a high school education, music production and a gardening program.

The center provides young people counseling and trauma support, transportation to the center, financial literacy and parenting classes. They also can receive clothing, baby supplies and two daily meals.

Grammer and his staff also go to the youth homes and counsel them with their families.

“We give them a full wrap-around because they need someone in their life that they have built a relationship with and really cares,” said Grammer. “In some instances parents weren’t present in their lives. Over a period of time, we saw that we could do more for these young people.”

With this kind of dedication and commitment, Grammer was selected by the Obama Foundation to join its inaugural 2018 Fellows class. Grammer is one of 20 “Obama Fellows” chosen from more than 20,000 applicants from 191 countries. The Obama Foundation will provide the Fellows with hands-on training and a network that will help take their work to the next level, according to a news release.

“It’s an incredible honor,” said Grammer. “At the same time I see the scope of the seriousness of this position, being a voice for the folks here in our communities. It’s a great responsibility.”

One of these next level projects New Earth is taking on is converting a former juvenile detention facility in Malibu into a vocational trade center and a partial reentry program.

“about 5 percent of city streets produce half of a city’s crime…” according to George Mason University criminologist David Weisburd. “Homicides Are a Neighborhood Problem” THE NEW YORK TIMES 12-28-17

“Nowhere in history have we heard of a prison being shut down and then turned into something that’s going to be good for the community, so this will be a big deal for us,” said Grammer. “It will be a residential program. It will not be a diversion program. People won’t be sentenced there. There will be an application process like any other college.” 

It will be a 10-month program. The requirements are that they be system-involved in some way such as: probation, homeless, former foster care. At the end of the certification process, the students will be placed in jobs.

The Obama Foundation is interested in supporting and putting resources into this project, which will happen over the next three years, said Grammer.

Grammer understands the challenges that he faces—from dealing with bureaucracy, navigating funding and educating the public about the juvenile justice system. But he also has a message for incarcerated adults:

“First and foremost, keep your head up, get through it,” said Grammer. “We need you back in the community. Our communities aren’t going to turn around unless our elders come together and say ‘hey, you know what, let’s turn this gang thing around, let’s turn this crime thing around. Give our young people the right guidance and move in the right direction.”

Lee Mengistu, University of California at Berkeley Student, contributed to this story

https://sanquentinnews.com/optionb-org-support-group-overcoming-effects-incarceration/

California’s early release programs ACP

USSC Children's right to counsel

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Fifty years ago the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that children have a right to counsel, but many kids in the juvenile system are still left unrepresented, according to a new report.

Children of color are disproportionately affected, and they make up a majority of arrests, says the May report by the National Juvenile Defender Center.

Other key findings:

–Despite the court ruling, “Children in the United States are not guaranteed lawyers.” Only 11 states provide every child accused of an offense with a lawyer, regardless of financial status.

Nationally, some 64,000 Americans died from overdose last year, up 86 percent from 2006, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.THE WALL STREET JOURNAL:  “Friends of Overdose Victims Become Prosecutor’s Targets”  Dec. 18, 2017

–Sometimes, a child is denied a lawyer because of one simple question: is the child financially eligible for a public defender? One juvenile defender in Louisiana said “there are no forms; a child is simply asked if he or she receives free or reduced-price lunch at school and if so, counsel is appointed,” according to the report.

–Children do not get attorneys until it is too late. (No state guarantee lawyers for every child during interrogation, and only one state requires it under limited circumstances.)

–“When children are questioned at a police station, they are often pressured to talk to authorities for an indefinite amount of time. They are typically seated in small, enclosed rooms where they are made to feel intimidated or as if they are complicit in wrongdoing. And the youth are usually alone.”

–Thirty-six states allow children to be charged fees for a “free” lawyer.

–Families must pay to prove they do not have enough money for a lawyer. Expenses range from $10 for an application fee to more than $1,000.

–Forty-three states allow children to waive their right to a lawyer without first consulting with a lawyer. “Children who waive their right to counsel often end up in far worse positions than if they were automatically given an attorney from day one,” one juvenile defender reported. “It’s not only unfair but also grossly naive to expect children to navigate this system alone.”

–Children’s access to counsel ends too early. (Only 11 states provide for meaningful access to a lawyer after sentencing, while every state keeps children under its authority during this time.)

–Children still need a lawyer after sentencing in juvenile court. “The reality of disparate punishment for youth of color alone signals the unquestionable necessity for defense counsel,” according to the report.

Recommendations for reform:

–Automatically appoint a qualified juvenile defender regardless of financial circumstances before any interrogation.

–Abolish all costs and fees associated with a child’s access to a publicly funded juvenile defender.

–Prohibit waiver of attorney until a consultation is made with an attorney.

–Ensure continuous appointment of counsel until a child’s case is closed.

“No jurisdiction in the United States wholly fulfills the constitutional promise of justice for children. … It is time to fulfill the promise,” the report concludes.

Keep kids out of the system

Native American Girls are at Higher Risk for Imprisonment


https://sanquentinnews.com/new-law-keeps-peace-officers-interrogating-juveniles-2/

Keep kids out of the system

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Eddie Herena and David le

Eddie Herena and David le

Several counties in the U.S. have implemented a new program that has helped to keep kids out of the juvenile justice system, according to The Crime Report.

Called “System of Care,” the program is “changing the way the county addresses juvenile crime” since it was launched in November, wrote Anne Jungen in Wisconsin’s La Crosse Tribune.

The program focuses on kids in school. System of Care “fills a gap between how schools handle misconduct and what the juvenile justice system provides by addressing the [troublesome or acting out] behavior without a ticket or arrest,” the Tribune reported.

The purpose of System of Care is to hold students accountable.

“It’s not about being soft on crime. It’s about being smart on crime,” said Curt Teff, La Crosse School District supervisor of Integrated Supports, who helped develop the program.

The urge to create this program stemmed from La Crosse County’s high juvenile arrest rate, which was higher than the state average, according to a study by the Carey Group, a consulting firm retained in 2008 to examine the county’s juvenile justice system.

“…childhood adversity and stress can chemically change the way our brain works,” said Dr. Robert Anda, a medical epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and developer of the Adverse Childhood Experiences or ACE survey to The New York Times in “Linking Childhood Trauma to Prison’s Revolving Door” nytimes.com/national

Some of the juvenile arrests reported included:

  • Disorderly conduct
  • 62 percent arrests occurring on weekdays
  • 25 percent of arrests were at public schools
  • One-third of cases referred to criminal justice system resulted in being counseled without formal charges

“Kids are neurologically wired to do stupid things. When we arrested them, we were contributing to making them worse,” said Judge Steven Teske, who helped established a System of Care in Clayton County, Ga.

Systems of Care was founded in 2003 and has reduced juvenile arrest in schools by 71 percent, while graduation rates rose 30 percent, according to Judge Teske,

“The System of Care seeks to help kids who need it,” said Teske. “We identify causes for the behavior and match them with resources so they can develop coping skills that will help them function in school.”

https://sanquentinnews.com/girls-color-overlooked-school-prison-pipeline/

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https://sanquentinnews.com/maryland-govenor-moves-grant-juvenile-offenders-parole/

Youth offender who realizes opportunity a little too late

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Andrew Joseph Biovin with NFL player Brendon Ayanbadejo

Andrew Joseph Biovin with NFL player Brendon Ayanbadejo

Many youth offenders who find themselves incarcerated at San Quentin fail to recognize the opportunities available to them and end up transferred to higher level institutions due to behavioral infractions.

“I didn’t realize what I had here in San Quentin,” said Andrew Joseph Biovin, 21, a youth offender who was deemed a program failure and was transferred out of San Quentin. “Now I want to go to programs and learn all I can. Now, it’s real. Now I care.”

In 2013, a new law AB1276, allowed new offenders between the ages of 18 and 23 an opportunity to serve their sentences at a lower level security prison like San Quentin, to have access to free on-site college programs like Patten University and a plethora of other rehabilitative and vocational programs that are available.

Miguel Sifuentes, a Kid CAT member and facilitator of a youth offender group called “BE-IT” (Benefiting Each Individual Together) works at Receive and Release (R&R) and, in that role, has a unique perspective on how some youths are coping at San Quentin, how some succeed and some fail. He had two interactions with Biovin at R&R and observed a difference in the youth’s attitude between the two.

“The first time he seemed conflicted about being transferred out. The second time I saw Biovin was months later when he was on a layover in R&R, being transferred to another institution. This time, I immediately recognized something was different about him. He had matured somehow in the months since I last saw him.”

“Youth issues are especially close to my heart because I am a youth offender; when I first entered into the system, I had to go to a Level 4 prison due to my age and crime,” Sifuentes said. “I understand how some of these young people are trying to adhere to a belief system, and [have] normalized acts of criminal thinking and fail to see the opportunities to change due to peer pressure.

“I hope that I can share Biovin’s story so that youths reading this story can learn from his mistakes.

“Biovin had disciplinary problems that had invalidated his stay here, and his story is not unique. In my experience as many as a few hundred young men have gone through a similar pattern, many of whom will not make it back to a lower level like San Quentin,” continued Sifuentes.

“I made a giant mistake, and now I want to help others not make the same one by sharing my story”

“During Biovin’s second time at R&R, we spoke for about an hour and a half, through a small tray slot in the holding cell where Biovin was in. He told me that he was previously in San Quentin for about a year and a half and is now on his way to a Level 4 (maximum security prison) after brief transfers to a level 3 (medium security) at California’s Men’s Colony and Vacaville. There he had additional disciplinary problems and is facing the possibility of a criminal prosecution.”         

Like many youth offenders, Biovin was exposed to some limited rehabilitative programs at San Quentin but found it difficult to completely break away from old behaviors.

Among the disciplinary infractions incurred by youth offenders are: fighting, drug possession and/or failed drug tests, cell phone possession, and a “high speed chase” (running from staff) usually in reaction to one of the above.

Biovin was no different. “I used to say to the ‘O.G.’ lifers, ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about,’” he said. “Everything they told me now is real. Now I see with my own eyes that other places ain’t cool.

“I messed up, I wish I could go back, do well, and make a different decision. Now I understand, I threw away my opportunity,” said Biovin.

“I made a giant mistake, and now I want to help others not make the same one by sharing my story. Now, I understand why lifers want to give back because I want to help others avoid the same problems I had too.”

In response to Biovin’s comments, Sifuentes said, “I was sad to see him in trouble, and yet tremendously happy to see his newfound insight. He’s everything I hope a young person could know for him/herself and say. Yet it came at a high cost. I hope these other young guys ‘get it’ before it is too late.”

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https://sanquentinnews.com/youth-offender-mix-tape-captures-generational-trauma-incarceration/

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