Kid C.A.T. (Creating Awareness Together) launches Kid C.A.T. Speaks!, a monthly column dedicated to highlighting the inmate group’s service and the issues that impact youth.
Kid C.A.T.’s mission is to inspire humanity through education, mentorship and restorative practices. The members are men who committed their crimes when they were juveniles but were sentenced to adult prison terms.
Understanding what it means to be an at-risk youth, the men combine current knowledge and stories of transformation to illuminate the problems they faced and illustrate needed solutions.
Kid C.A.T. Speaks! will discuss issues small and large that affect youth, including law and policy, movements and programs that positively influence young people’s lives. It will also feature first-person narratives that share experiences and information about Kid C.A.T.’S efforts to help youth.
The past decade has seen dramatic changes in the treatment of juveniles under the age of 18 when they commit crimes. Senate Bill 9 (Yee), which prohibits the sentencing of young offenders to serve life without the possibility of parole, acknowledges that juveniles have the capacity to rehabilitate and have a greater possibility of earning parole.
SB260 (Hancock), signed into law in 2013, recognizes the age, maturity and neurological development at the time of the offense and corresponding culpability. SB260 holds young offenders accountable, yet provides an opportunity for earned release through a Youth Offender Review Board when they have served a minimum of 25, 15 or 10 years of their determinate or indeterminate sentences.
Currently, Kid C.A.T. believes the most important issue is Assembly Bill 1276 (Bloom). It acknowledges that inmates under the age of 22 will benefit from housing in low-level security facilities where self-help, education and vocational programs are more available.
In Level 4 facilities, younger inmates can be exposed to pressure from prison gangs and can become victims of violence or manipulation. Under these conditions, they must focus on survival, not rehabilitation.
Kid C.A.T. recognizes that society has a responsibility to create safe environments that provide opportunities for young people. In our communities, there are volunteers and programs that offer youth access to education, employment and life-changing opportunities.
The column will focus on the persons and organizations that work to fulfill that vision.
Kid C.A.T.’s goal is to inspire youth to make positive personal transformation in their lives.
