Suspensions and expulsions from schools create a “schoolto-prison pipeline,” according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Such policies and practices disproportionally affect those of color, according to the ACLU.
“The ‘school-to-prison pipeline’ refers to the policies and practices that push our nation’s schoolchildren, especially our most at-risk children, out of classrooms and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems. This pipeline reflects the prioritization of incarceration over education,” the ACLU report states.
“One out of every three black boys in Oakland’s public school system was suspended during the 2010-2011 academic year for bad behavior,” according to Oakland Tribune columnist Tammerlin Drummond.
Drummond said that to find out the details that lead youngsters away from school and into the criminal justice system, “just ask the men at San Quentin.”
The San Quentin News did just that. Here are some responses: Donavan Norwood said he was suspended from Calvin Simmons Jr. High School for “playing in the rain,” and the San Quentin inmate admits it was not the first time. Simmons also said he was suspended “plenty of times for fighting and coming to class late.”
Many prisoners who read about the racial disparities had the same response: “No surprise.”
Some of the men had tearful memories of their experiences with school discipline.
A Los Angeles man, Paul Davenport, said not being able to talk to anyone about his mother’s death caused him to act out in school. His misbehaving was treated with a spanking by a teacher and vice principal. He said it was the beginning of his fighting days. “Eventually I dropped out of school,” Davenport said.
Todd Jones said he was once suspended for throwing a basketball at a sea gull. He said he was only trying to run the bird off so he could play basketball. Jones said he was on probation at the time of the suspension.
The incident led to a violation of his probation, so he was sent to juvenile hall. After that, “I became acclimated to 150th” (the location of the Alameda County’s juvenile hall lock-up in San Leandro, on 150th Avenue), said Jones.
“I quit going to Oakland High school after becoming a target, after being expelled for disobedience,” said Norwood.
“Life is a test and you get your final grade when you die,” said one prisoner who wishes to remain anonymous. “Imagine if God was as cruel as some of these unsympathetic teachers who don’t consider some students have to duck bullets just to attend class,” he said.
“I was expelled by choice,” said Al McInnis, a 21-year-old Oakland native. “I was deliberately being disobedient at Low Junior High. I wanted to hang in the street.”
Dropping out of school led him to prison, he said. “A solution to the problem is to bring ex-cons to the youth, and have us talk to them.”
“Instead of flooding our communities with guns and drugs, we need to invest in new books,” said one prisoner.
“Teach the teacher how to give a damn enough to ask what’s wrong before resorting to expulsion,” said another.
–Kevin D. Sawyer contributed to this story
