San Quentin News

Written By Inmates - Advancing Social Justice

9-year-old Illinois boy charged with murder and arson

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By Kerry Rudd, Journalism Guild Writer

An Illinois court recently charged a nine-year-old boy five first-degree murders and arson for starting a mobile home fire that killed five people.

If convicted, the boy’s young age makes juvenile probation the only sentencing option available. He’s too young to be placed in any juvenile detention facility, according to an Oct. 22 Chicago Tribune article.

“He made a terrible mistake, but he’s not a monster,” said his mother, Katie Atwood.

The newspaper reported, “When he sat (in court), his feet only touched the ground if he slid forward in his chair, and his head barely reached above the top of the seat.”

The charges stem from an April fire. Four of his relatives and his mother’s boyfriend died in the inferno.

Judge Charles Feeney read the charges to the boy. The proceedings were slow-going because the judge had to explain a variety of legal terms to him.

The boy was read the first count by the judge, which alleged “he committed the offense of first-degree murder and you…set fire to trailer residence…thereby caused the death of Jason Wall.”

When asked by the judge whether he understood, the boy indicated that he didn’t by shaking his head.

“What don’t you understand?” the judge asked.

“What I did,” the boy replied.

Judge Feeney then started over again. He stopped on certain words to define them for the boy.

Later in the hearing the boy’s court-appointed attorney, Peter Dluski, intervened.

“Your honor, I apologize. He told me he doesn’t know what ‘alleged’ means,” Dluski said.

Later in the hearing came the term “arson.”

“He wants to know what arson is, your honor,” Dluski said.

“Arson is the name of a crime, that you knowingly caused a fire to occur at real property…” the judge explained.

In April the county medical examiner’s office ruled the deaths as homicides after consulting with the county sheriff’s office, state fire marshal’s office, and the local fire protection district.

State Attorney Greg Minger of Woodford County brought charges against the boy over six months after the deaths.

The boy was taken into protective custody after the fire. Ever since then he’s been a ward of the court.

“Though the boy is too young to be incarcerated, if he is convicted and violates terms of probation a judge can sentence him to county detention once he’s 10 years old and state juvenile prison if he’s 13,” according to the Chicago Tribune.

Illinois offers young offenders hope

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Most young adults who are serving long-term sentences can apply for parole in Illinois under a new law.

“The historic legislation will create a long-awaited and vital new parole system for youth facing long sentences,” said Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

The measure allows the granting of discretionary pa- role for people who commit- ted a crime before the age of 21, The Chicago Tribune reported April 3.

“Everybody deserves a second chance, but especially our youth. In the juvenile justice system, our youth often get their rights trod upon,” said former public defender Lindsay Parkhurst.

After 10 years, many youth offenders can petition the Illinois Prisoner Review Board for parole consideration. Victims, witnesses and others will be given the opportunity to testify to the parole board.

Those serving life sentences or convicted of predatory criminal assault on a child will not be eligible. Those convicted of first-degree murder or aggravated criminal sexual assault will be eligible for review after 20 years.
“I believe in redemption.

I believe in rehabilitation,” said Barbara Flynn Currie, the former state representative who sponsored the bill. The bill was the final piece of legislation to be passed in Currie’s 40 years as a lawmaker.

Pritzker has also created a Justice, Equity and Opportunity Initiative by power of an executive order.

The initiative will conduct research and advocate for more laws with a restorative justice model to make rehabilitation the priority over incarceration and punishment.

Illinois shut down prison debate team after successful public event

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After a successful public debate on reforming, the Illinois parole system, prison officials shut down the Stateville Debate Team in April.
The goal of the team was to use debate as a tool to “connect prisoners to the broader debate community” and provide an opportunity to learn and practice the principles of debate, said Katrina Burlet, director of the Justice Debate League (JDL) and coach of the Stateville Debate Team.
JDL hosted a public debate on reforming the Illinois parole system with an audience of about 75 people “including state government and department officials, state legislators, university professors, and activists,” said Burlet in The Crime Report.
JDL found the debate response phenomenal.
“Legislators started seriously working on parole legislation. Many of them wanted to return to learn more from the debate team members,” Burlet said.
Within a month of the debate, prison authorities shut down the team. “I have not been allowed since then into any facilities operated by the Illinois Department of Corrections,” Burlet said.
Illinois prison authorities cancelled the Debate Team because of concerns about “security” at the prison. Speaking on National Public Radio in June, Illinois Department of Corrections Head John Baldwin acknowledged the debate program “was really well received, but this was about somebody who chose not to follow basic corrections safety and security practices.”
“Prison discipline was used to break spirits so that the men of the debate team would never try something like that again,” Burlet said. On Aug. 28, the Uptown People’s Law Center (UPLC) of Chicago filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Stateville Debate Team over the retaliatory actions taken by the Illinois Department of Corrections against the debate sponsors and prisoner participants. UPLC is part of JDL, which provides an opportunity to learn and practice the principles of debate.
Kyle Robertson, a UC Santa Cruz professor and volunteer coach at San Quentin’s Prison University Project Debate Group sat down with San Quentin News to discuss Stateville’s Debate Team.
SQN – Why do you think debate groups are important?
I think that one of the main reasons to have a de- bate program inside prisons is to help inmates participate in public conversation about things that matter to them, such as the parole system.
SQN – After reading about the prison administration disbanding the Stateville Debate Team, what would you do different?
I find this story depress- ing, and I feel horrible for the author and her team of students at Stateville in Illinois. They were doing exactly what they should have been doing. Assuming that article is accurate, the reactions of the Stateville administration shows, I think, that they don’t respect the knowledge and ability of their own in- mates to generate compelling arguments about au analysis of the parole system.
SQN – Why do you think that?
They underestimated the team’s skills, and they over- reacted to the possibility that people in power might find the inmates’ ideas compelling. I hope the administration reconsiders their actions.”

Boatwright

Returning citizens tend to be more politically involved

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Political science professors Hannah L. Walker and Michael Leo Owens allege that formerly incarcerated individuals tend to be more politically involved in regions with abundant non-profit organizations that support their re-entry efforts.

In an opinion article posted in The Washington Post, Walker and Owens chronicle their study and explain their conclusion.

They used data that had been gathered through an online survey done by the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois during August and September of 2014. According to the article, the study focused on a sampling of 1,275 eligible voters from Chicago “because, as Harvard sociologist Robert Sampson once observed, the city’s patterns ‘are broadly consistent with trends in crime and incarceration throughout the United States.’”

The survey asked participants about their contact with law enforcement and involvement in the criminal justice system: 11 percent acknowledged having been either stopped or questioned, and 5 percent had been on probation or parole, in jail or in prison.

Those surveyed claimed to have taken part in some sort of political activity or civil action.

For instance, 49 percent of those questioned by police signed a petition, and 14 percent attended a protest, according to the article.

The professors found that former prisoners with ties to nonprofit organizations were more politically involved than those with no ties.

The professors reviewed records from the Chicago Police Department’s 270 police beats, subareas within the 25 districts. They measured the number of nonprofit felon-friendly groups, felony conviction rates, and the extent to which the community participated and collaborated with the police.

They also discovered that areas with more nonprofits and high rates of felony convictions had more collaboration between the community and law enforcement.

They believe that their findings show that “involuntary contact with the criminal justice system reduces voting, for individuals and communities. [However], results suggest that civic groups may help citizens re-engage with politics after having been incarcerated.”

On Sept. 21, members from different nonprofit groups, officers from the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department, and numerous other Bay Area police departments ventured into San Quentin State Prison to build community ties that promote public safety and civil engagement with people still incarcerated.

San Quentin News collaborated with KTVU’s Paul Chambers, who hosts these community-law enforcement events called “Barbershop Dialogues.” The objective is to build relationships between citizens and the police that serve their communities.

“I’ve never seen anything like this, where cops want to help you,” said Louie—-, an inmate participant. “I didn’t know that there were so many resources that law enforcement has to offer.”

The Bay Area has an abundance of nonprofits dedicated to human rights, civil rights and equal opportunity, which also help promote public safety by addressing community concerns.

“These people actually heard us out and had some answers to my questions,” said David Navarez, another inmate participant. “I definitely want to get involved in whatever group activities they got to help prevent gang and gun violence in the neighborhoods.”

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