there is no summer in juvenile hall
TRANSCRIPT
There is no summerin juvenile hall.
Field ReportNidorf Juvenile Hall, Sylmar, CA
Naomi Bradley, AACWM missions coordinator
There is no summer in juvenile hall.
In fact, your summer may have been interruptedby an arrest and your first few lonely hours of
realization that you cannot change your past, that your future has changed forever, that you wish you hadn’t done it, or that you didn’t do it but nobody believes you, or that things might have
been different for you if you had lived in a different place and time.
There is no summer in juvenile hall.
No visits from family or friends, or your mom and/or your dad or your foster mom or granddad
do visit, but not often, or they come often but they always look sad, and you try not to cry but it
breaks your heart to think that you can’t leavewith them when they go because the youth
correctional officer and the locks and chains on your wrists and ankles are making sure of that.
There is no summer in juvenile hall.
LA County Juvenile Detention Facilities3 Juvenile Halls (LA, Downey, Sylmar)
19 Probation Camps
53,830 juvenile arrests (2003)* 30,697 Hispanic (57%)
* 12,207 Black (23%)
* 8,005 White (15%)
* Male 75%
* 5% <12 years
* 50% ages 16-17
Justice Dept. findings, April 2003LA County Juvenile Halls
We conclude that failure to provide proper rehabilitation, education, opportunities to use the telephone and participate in religious programming, insufficient provision of translation services for Limited English Proficient (LEP) youth, and an ineffective grievance system also violated residents’ rights under the 14th
Amendment and other applicable laws.
March 3 Observations“We learned that the 250 young men
received 15 minutes a month outside, and 30 minutes of school per day.”
“An idle mind is definitely the devil’s playground.”
Rebecca Alexander
March 3 Observations
“These children are so hungry for direction and truth.”
“If God hears the prayers of anyone, it is the children.”
Rebecca Alexander
The Good News
• Justice Dept. monitoring
• March 28 meeting with chief probation officer
• Driver Education classes
• Tutoring/Academic Advising
• Two church commitments
• Caring and dedicated chaplains/volunteers
Funky Buddhist Monk
Our Mission
“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” Luke 18:16
LA County Juvenile Halls/CampsMANDATORY VOLUNTEER ORIENTATION
Saturday, April 7, 10am-noonAfrican American Center for World Mission
1605 E. Elizabeth St., Pasadena
Presenter: Protestant Chaplain Carradine
[email protected] (626) 345-1794