TURNING CHILDREN INTO CRIMINALS
I have been a public school teacher in Tampa, Florida, since 1967. About six or seven years ago, I began Bible studies at the halfway house and then moved on to detention, working with the youth one-on-one. I began going to court with some of them, and one day stood up in Juvenile Court and told the judge that the law only allowed juveniles to be in detention centers for a period of 21 days, but many of them were being locked up for more than a year. I said that many guards were perverted and pitted youth against one another in gladiator matches. In some instances, guards paid kids with food to urinate and defecate on other kids. The judge told me this was "hearsay," to which I answered that when many young people had the same story independently of each other, it was more than "hearsay." The next day, I was barred from the detention center permanently. As a result, I have continued to work with youth and have founded CRYS (Coalition for the Reform of Youth Services, 4003 S. Westshore Blvd., Tampa, FL 33611, [813] 835-7362).
We oppose a complex legal system in which, little by little, children are turned into criminals. Society would never think of denying a citizen due process because of race or gender. Yet children are denied Constitutional due process, granted no jury trial and denied the right to defend themselves. Hearings take place in a closed courtroom, accessed only by special permission. The theory is that this does not violate the Constitution because juveniles are not "punished," but "rehabilitated." I question how rehabilitated they are when they walk into Juvenile Court in fetters.
Even more alarming, Florida statutes allow the State, without due process, to go back three years into the juvenile's record to assess points, counting time in prison. The three year-period is from when the child is direct-filed as an adult--usually at age 14 but often much younger. The law that permits direct-filing a child as an adult was written because adults were using children to perform heinous, violent crimes (juveniles could not be punished.) However, the intent of the law was lost when the State began en masse to direct-file children for petty crimes, often only because detention centers were overcrowded. When we lock up young children for minor infractions and place them in an environment which destroys any emotional security they might have had, this reinforces criminal behavior.
Statistically, the U.S. has by far the greatest percentage of their population incarcerated. Florida has the highest percentage of their youth in prison. In Tampa we have 8- and 9-year olds in County Jail and 12-year-olds in adult prison. These statistics do not begin to tell the story of the heartaches and suffering involved.
To list some examples:
Children as young as fourteen are in Florida prisons for urinating behind a bush. However, to make it a felony, the state calls it lewd and lascivious.
When Raymond was 13, he and his brother were in an abandoned house out in the country, reading magazines. Raymond had found a broken BB gun, which he put in his belt. The neighbors called police. When they surrounded the house, Raymond was charged with burglary with a deadly weapon because he was in a house and obviously stole a broken BB gun. This would be funny if the consequences weren't so serious. Children being charged with large offenses while committing the act of being bored children escalate into much greater consequences.
Steven was charged with an adult escape, a first degree felony, when he walked out of the crisis center, a non-secure program for juveniles.
Raymond went joy riding in an all terrain vehicle at the age of 14 and received a 12-year sentence. During sentencing, the judge told him that there were adults in prison who loved playing sex games with tough young boys and they would have12 years to enjoy themselves. Statistics tell us that more young boys are raped behind bars than ladies on the street and the boys experience the emotional trauma of knowing that it is going to happen daily.
One of the very usual and very scary charges is that of strong-armed robbery, scary because in Tampa we have myriads of 8 and 9-year olds in county jail (not juvenile home) on that charge. What makes this charge scary is that when we read this on a record, we visualize a young, violent criminal robbing at gun point. In reality, we often have a young kid, maybe 10 years old, shoplifting a stick of gum. When he finds out he has been caught, he panics and tries to push the security guard aside and get out. He does what he does, not out of criminality but out of fear and panic. However, because "violence" was used in this act, it is called "strong armed robbery." Mischief is escalated into criminality, destroying our youth.
Daniel Sanchez, at the age of 15, walked out of Burdines with a pair of pants and served 15 years for strong-armed robbery.
LETTERS FROM CHILDREN IN PRISON
Jason, arrested at 12.
1995. "It's hard being locked up, getting assaulted and treated like trash. They think I have no feeling or at least act like I'm no one or anything. I may have lost hope and faith in myself."
1997." I would be happy to correspond with a young lady around my age and maybe carry on a relationship. I'm in need to understand how a female feels, cause I got locked up at 13 years old, so I don't know how to find the way to do so."
1998. "If you only knew what hurt lies within me and what all goes through my head. I remember when I first came down in the County Jail, I was not violent. Now I am, and my temper and anger gets the best of me, and it's real scary cause I don't know how to control it, and I'll end up hurting someone real bad. Please try to get me out."
1998. " I have not heard from my mom in about 2 1/2 months. I am going to be honest. I have had difficulty lately. I just got back from the hospital for trying to commit suicide. I got stitches in my arm and stayed in the S.O.S. cell. The reason I did it was because everyone seems to have given up on me."
Ray-arrested at 13. "I am a little worried about going to prison. I don't think I can handle prison time. It will never help me. It will just make me worse. I know I won't get into any more trouble, and you know that, but the judge don't. I need a chance to prove that I can make a change in my life. I want to go to night school and get a job. I need schooling because I can't read or write.... I got in trouble because I wasn't with my family. I could make a change if they would let me on probation. I want to go to school and make something of myself."
Ray, 14, "On 5/31/95, at approximately 7:17 p.m., while I was assigned to housing D-C-11, some inmate was setting rooms on fire. Capt. Barriner came to my cell and I told him that one of those inmates had something that belonged to me. Well, him and Sergeant Smith told me that I "can't get shit" and that I shouldn't have given it to him to hold. So I cursed him, and he came back with an electrical shield, basically like a stun gun, and cans of mace. He told me to put my hands behind my back, and I said, "For what? I didn't do nothing," so they bombed rushed me, knocking me to my bunk, hitting me with the electrical shield, and then hitting me with their elbows, fists, and smashing me. They then handcuffed me and took me out of the cell to the sally-port and assaulted me again. They messed up my nose, the side of my eye, my ribs, and knee caps. Then they took me to medical. When I was back in my cell, they came by to tell me that they had fun jumping me! Do you remember way back when we were trying to expose all of the injustices that were taking place in the WI Edwards Detention Center, how the staff was allowing the kids to be abused by other kids? The same thing is taking place here, and it's happening to me."
Steve, early teens "I haven't been feeling too well lately. I mean, I've tried to hang in there and I have dealt with a lot more than anyone can imagine. I just don't feel I can take this anymore. I am tired of being lonely, having my dreams shot down along with my hopes. Is this what I'm meant to be? I don't even know myself anymore. I don't think I really want to, either. I cannot even stand to look at this situation for what it really is. I've told myself it's going to get better, but how long can I lie to myself? or everyone else, for that matter? everything looks pretty dark. All I want to do is sleep. If I never wake up, it is a relieving thought. and if I do, then what? Maybe when I get out, my family won't know me. Maybe my mom and grandma, but how long will that last? How long until I've had enough and decided to put a stop to this torture?"