Humane Exposures Blog

Florida’s youth-corrections system is so poorly administered that children are assaulted by officers, denied necessary medical care and punished harshly for minor infractions, a federal report released Friday concludes.

Conditions are so severe, the U.S. Department of Justice said, that they violate the Constitution.

So begins Carol Marbin Miller’s article in The Miami Herald last Friday about the blistering report handed down by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. 28 pages that detail the horrible conditions experience by those incarcerated at Florida’s Dozier School for Boys and the Jackson Juvenile Offender Center. While both of these facilities were closed earlier this year the report states that similar conditions are likely common in other state youth prisons. The reasoning? The state’s “failed system of oversight and accountability”.

We see these stories in the news far too often. Just last July the death of Eric Perez, 18, at the Palm Beach County detention center was in the news. If any of the multiple guards and administrators who heard his pleas for medical attention had listened he might still be with us.

Suicidal youths are put in isolation. Others are discouraged from seeking medical attention, many times because what needs attention is an injury inflicted by the staff. Isolation and confinement are often used as punishment despite the fact that experts discourage it in all non-emergency situations. The list goes on and on, often involving different permutations of unneccessary or excessive force.

“These conditions return youth to the community no better — and likely less-equipped to succeed than when they were first incarcerated,” Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez wrote in a Dec. 1 letter to Gov. Rick Scott, adding that such practices “erode public confidence in the juvenile justice system and interfere with the state’s efforts to reduce crime.”

While Perez’ words are strong and voice valid concerns there is no intimation that either the Justice Department or Perez himself will seek further action. That is the truly disappointing facet of this otherwise

 Image Source: Conner395 on Flickr, used under it’s Creative Commons license

The United States incarcerates 25% of the world’s prisoners, which is disturbing since we only account for 5% of the planet’s total population. It’s a number which should make you sit up and take notice.

One of the largest factors behind this statistic is the privatized prison, something that did not exist before 1984. It was in that year that the Corrections Corporation of America received a contract to operate a public jail in Hamilton County, TN, the nation’s first-ever private prison was born.

The American Civil Liberties Union just released a study examining the history of prison privatization – Banking on Bondage: Mass Incarceration and Private Prisons – which clearly demonstrates how corporate profit seeking has caused our prison populations to explode.

Rania Khalek has a brilliant condensed version of the report’s findings on AlterNet, replete with useful documentation and links. I highly advise taking a few moments to read the whole thing, it is more than worth your time. Right now we will have to settle for an excerpt concerning how this privatization impact juvenile justice:

There is no clearer example of dangers associated mixing profit-making and juvenile rehabilitation than the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility (WGYCF) operated by the GEO Group in Mississippi.  WGYCF, which has been called “the deepest depths of hell,” is the nation’s largest juvenile prison. It houses 1,200 young males between the ages of 13 and 22, 67 percent of whom are incarcerated for non-violent offenses.  The facility was originally established by the Mississippi state legislature to create a safe environment for juveniles charged as adults by keeping them separate from the cruel and harsh conditions often found in adult prisons.

Unfortunately, that mission is incompatible with the priorities of the for-profit prison industry. As it turns out, conditions at WGYCF are so atrocious that the ACLU and Southern Poverty Law Center have teamed up to file a class-action lawsuit on behalf the inmates against the prison operator (GEO Group), prison administrators, and state officials.

The complaint alleges, “The for-profit entities that manage WGYCF perpetuate violence and corruption.”  More specifically, youth have been kicked and punched while handcuffed, others stripped naked and confined to solitary for weeks at a time.  Another inmate was “held hostage in his cell for almost 24 hours, brutally raped and physically assaulted after prison staff failed to heed his plea for protection.”  Another lives with permanent brain damage after suffering multiple stabbings and beatings that prison staff are described as having been complicit in.

On the other side of the political aisle similar concerns are being raised by Fox News, which looks at the statements to this effect by the corrections companies themselves:

Corrections Corporation of America (CXW), the industry leader based in Nashville, Tenn., with more than $1.7 billion in 2010 annual revenues and capacity for more than 90,000 prisoners, said a drop in tough criminal sentences means a drop in revenues. According to its 2010 annual report:

‘Demand for our facilities and services could be adversely affected by the relaxation of enforcement efforts, leniency in conviction or parole standards and sentencing practices, or through the decriminalization of certain activities that are currently proscribed by our criminal laws.’ […]

‘Any changes with respect to drugs and controlled substances or illegal immigration could affect the number of persons arrested, convicted, and sentenced, thereby potentially reducing demand for correctional facilities to house them,’ the company’s annual report said.

Boca Raton, Fla.-based GEO Group Inc. (GEO), in the industry’s No. 2 spot with nearly $1.3 billion in 2010 annual revenues and capacity for 81,000 prisoners, offers similar language in its 2010 annual report: ‘A decrease in our occupancy rates could cause a decrease in revenues and profitability.’

When Fox and AlterNet agree it’s worth paying attention. For private companies keeping the prisons filled is their financial bottom line, one that should never be allowed to trump the lives wasted within their walls. The money motive is so strong that their approach continues to remain dominant despite reams of evidence that rehabilitation is cheaper and more effective.

For these companies the safety of our streets does not even enter into the equation. It’s all about the profit margin.

Image Source: 401K on Flickr, used under it’s Creative Commons license

A juvenile court judge in Vinton County, Ohio recently penned a guest column in The Cincinnati Enquirer. The topic? YouthBuild.

If you are unfamiliar with the group, YouthBuild is a national youth and community development program that works with 16-24 year old, low income youths. Education is the baseline of their efforts, a vital topic in the modern day. Youngsters work toward their GEDs or high school diplomas, learn job skills while serving their communities by building affordable housing.

YouthBuild boasts 273 programs across the country. 21,000 units of affordable housing have been built since 1994 by 110,000 participants in the program. Now almost half of those programs across the U.S., 121 of them to be exact, have just lost their primary funding due to Department of Labor cuts.

Education is vital, it is one of the most important subjects on the table in modern society. Judge Grillo wrote a much needed call to arms about the direct correlation between education and quality of life:

Here in Southeastern Ohio, young people without a diploma, skills or GED have little to no hope for becoming useful adults. We have a population of young people without skills going on the dole, becoming takers rather than givers. Without an education our young people are just drifting, and as a judge, I know that society pays a high price.

I’ve seen young people who have committed serious crimes straighten themselves up through YouthBuild.

And I see young parents breaking a cycle of poverty by getting training and building a future for their families. One young woman got pregnant at 15 and struggled to stay in school after her daughter was born. She eventually dropped out and tried homeschooling, but nothing stuck until she enrolled in YouthBuild. Now 19 and head of her household, she has graduated from high school, completed nurse’s aide training and is enrolled at a state university.

While Southeastern Ohio is in a bind they are not alone. 121 Youthbuild Programs nation wide have just lost funding. Another victim of the drive to make short term savings shortchanging our future. Judge Grillo sums it up nicely:

Cutting funding for YouthBuild is short-sighted. We should be front-loading the social services system with educational opportunities and hope instead of back-loading it, only providing services when people fail and have nowhere else to turn.

Programs like YouthBuild are major weapons in the battle for juvenile justice. The combination of education and job skill training can be a potent weapon against the allure of crime. Additionally, it is far less expensive to taxpayers in the long run to focus on preventative and rehabilitative measures such as these.

It’s all about the future. Will we help the next generation realize their potential or will be allow their opportunities to recede into the distance.

As William Butler Yeats once said, “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”

Image Source: YouthBuild Philly

One of the wonderful things about writing this blog is that it addresses core issues  that both liberals and conservatives can agree on. Our juvenile justice system has become an expensive behemoth of questionable use – this has been proven by studies on both sides of the political aisle. 

Unfortunately today’s political climate of hyperbole and vitriol is not conducive to actually seeing that this common ground exists. Crusading for reform of the juvenile justice system is too often viewed as a purely liberal ideal. Even so, there are conservative organizations that want a transition to non-incarceration based treatments as well. It’s simple good sense because they are vastly more effective and substantially less expensive to the taxpayers. Whether the stated goal is humanitarian or fiscally based the path to reaching it is the same.

One conservative group in Texas, Right on Crime, has taken on what is usually considered a classic liberal position as we approach the tumultuous election season of 2012. James Swift, a writer for the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, brings us some details on the group and it’s goals:

The motto displayed on the Right On Crime website reads ‘fighting crime, prioritizing victims, and protecting taxpayers,’ a creed which [Marc A.] Levin [Director of The Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Center for Effective Justice] reiterated when he said the organization’s primary aspirations are to ‘promote public safety, and also to do so in a cost-effective manner.’ He also said the organization promotes ‘a focus on rehabilitation of youth and adults,’ who he believes can ‘be put on a path to be productive citizens and positive contributors to our society.’

‘Obviously, there have been some conservatives who, historically, have taken a ‘lock ‘em up and throw away the key’ approach,’ Levin said. ‘But crime has been declining in the United States for 17 years in a row.’

Levin said that his organization advocates evidence-based practices and discourages incarceration ‘when it is not necessary.’

‘If you incarcerate someone, it’s almost guaranteed they won’t be paying restitutions,’ he continued. ‘They won’t be paying child support, and they’re obviously not going to earn any income.’

‘Incarceration is necessary in some cases,’ Levin stated, ‘but a lot of times, it’s a child welfare issue.’

Right On Crime will hopefully be coming soon to a state near you.  The group is currently finding ways to expand it’s reach into other states. For one example they will be working closely with the  Georgia Public Policy Foundation to raise awareness and interest in reforming juvenile justice policies within the state over the next year. They are also reviewing a number of proposals from Washington, DC and possible legislation in California.

These are not conservative or liberal issues, they are human issues. In the midst of the ideological divisiveness our nation currently suffers this is the one clear ground where both sides want the same things, based on the same evidence. What better way to come together than to build a better future for our youth and their communities?

Last May legislation passed in the state of Florida, backed by Sen. J.D. Alexander (R-Lake Wales) among others,  was but  allowing any Florida county that could meet certain standards to take control of its own juvenile detention.Among other things this allows counties to move minors charged as juveniles into county jails. Two counties in the Sunshine State— Marion and Polk — already have made this change.

The state of Florida closed down the Polk Regional Juvenile Detention Center on the 27th of last October, and Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd debuted their new juvenile detention center that same month. Judd vows to cut in half the $3.2 million billed to the county each year by Juvenile Justice.

Treasure Coast sheriffs are not so quick to jump on the bandwagon, as Melissa Holsman of TCPalm reports:

Martin County Sheriff Robert Crowder said the county doesn’t deal with enough juvenile offenders to justify the costs of assuming the entire responsibility of housing juvenile offenders when the option exists to transfer the youths to the regional facility in Fort Pierce.

‘That’s a pretty drastic jump in expenses when you set up a facility,’ Crowder noted. ‘I think it’s a good idea the state is allowing local agencies to deal with this. But we have not done enough research here locally to take a firm position on this .’

Cost is one factor, and politicians on both sides are famous for neglecting to factor in start up costs when presenting their numbers. Another factor is staffing. In this case there were 73 state employees whose positions were put up for grabs by the changeover. Of those 42 put in applications at the new facility after Judd’s urging, and this is where the twist comes in.

You see only nine of them have been approved for hire, one is still pending. The reasons? Michael Pleasant at The Ledger shares the list:

Here’s what the Sheriff’s Office says kept the rest from getting through the hiring process:

Eleven did not pass a polygraph exam. The process involves a lengthy yes-or-no questionnaire and an interview based on the questions while hooked to a lie detector.

Six did not meet the agency’s general order standards, which set guidelines for several things including tattoos and past illegal drug use.

Four did not pass a background check, which could mean their criminal history disqualifies them or information they gave on applications turned out to be false or inaccurate.

One failed a psychological examination required for hire.

Ten withdrew their applications.

Judd has stated that the results of the polygraph tests in particular raised concerns. The state department on the other hand requires a background check, a drug screen and fingerprinting just like Judd’s facility, but does not require a polygraph.

No matter the issues surrounding the changeover there are massive concerns about its effect on Florida’s youth. The lack of specific training in dealing with youth offenders is one of the key arguments against this sort of incarceration.

Jacob Carpenter of The Naples Daily News brings us one vital argument in particular:

Lawanda Ravoira, director of a Jacksonville-based advocacy center for juvenile girls, said jail officials would be particularly unable to support victims of sexual abuse. Research suggests that 70 percent of girls who enter the juvenile justice system have been victims of emotional, physical or sexual abuse.

‘At best, it’s developmentally inappropriate,’ Ravoira said. ‘At worst, it increases the likelihood that young girls will be physically and sexually abused in those facilities.’

Roy Miller, president of the Tallahassee-based Children’s Campaign, a juvenile watchdog nonprofit has stated this new legislation “…sets us back 40 years.”

It is understandable for states and their counties to be finding ways to reduce costs, in this economic climate everyone is doing that. This is exactly why better measures that are more effective in the long term need consideration. Moving to county based incarceration looks initially cheaper but over the long term the truly cost effective approach is rehabilitation.

Image Source: Woody H1, used under it’s Creative Commons license

Mental focus, empathy, and optimism. These are three things lacking in the early lives of many children, particularly children who suffer the trials of homelessness or incarceration. Three things that actress Goldie Hawn wants to give to children everywhere.

Let’s start off with a quick video to get you up to speed and take it from there, shall we?

Developed by Hawn and neurologist Judy Willis the program uses short duration “brain breaks”  to help school children learn to regulate their own brains.

Three times daily, kids in the program are given three minute sessions of “mindfulness training.”  When totaled together the sessions cover four different 30 minute lessons.

• Quieting the mind.
• Our senses.
• Practical Applications.
• Mindfulness and ourselves in the world.

The short sessions seem to work beautifully as the children involved in the profess to really enjoy them and consistently tell their friends and families about their experiences.

Marianne Schnall recently interviewed Hawn for The Huffington Post. Here is an excerpt from it’s introduction:

Working with leading neuroscientists, educators and researchers, The Hawn Foundation has developed the MindUP program, a curriculum that has already been implemented in classrooms by over 1,000 educators throughout the United States, Canada and the U.K. — and they are receiving requests to bring their program to many other regions around the world such as Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The cutting-edge curriculum features 15 carefully-thought out lessons designed to help children reduce stress and anxiety; improve concentration and academic performance; understand the brain science linking emotions, thoughts and behaviors; manage their emotions and behavior more effectively; develop greater empathy for others and the world; and learn to be optimistic and happy. It is a revolutionary undertaking that seeks to dramatically transform the way we view education, using methods that are backed up by the latest research about the brain — and they are already achieving impressive results in children who are learning in the MindUp classroom.

The interview goes into a great deal of depth on the subject, including detailed discussion of how the program is implemented, the findings so far, and the science supporting it. Read it here: Goldie Hawn Talks ‘MindUP’ and Her Mission to Bring Children Happiness.

As always the question is “just how effective is this approach?” While there are no completed studies of the program at this point, the initial findings of one currently in progress come to us through serendipity.

Peter B. Reiner, a contributing writer for Neuroethics at the Core,  ran into UBC Associate Professor Kim Schonert-Reich on a plane recently.  Schonert-Reich is one of the lead researchers on the efficacy of the MindUP™ curriculum on schoolchildren and her description on the astonishing results of the program led him to cover it in a recent post:

Kim is in the process of carrying out a proper experiment on the MindUP™ program, with some classes receive no training, others receiving sham training, and other getting the full MindUP™ curriculum. The results are not yet published, but even the non-quantitative results are compelling. When teachers who are not using the program see what a powerful positive effect it is having on kids in other classes, they clamour for having the curriculum included in their daily lesson plans.  High school teachers are starting to ask for a version of the program for their students.  It has turned into a full-fledged meme, spreading like wildfire in the absence of marketing. As an added benefit, MindUP™ is also making kids budding neurobiologists – each lesson is accompanied by a description of what goes on in the brain when one practices mindfulness, and kids apparently go home to their families and tell them about their brains.

Here’s a longer talk by Hawn for those who wish a more in depth examination of her views:

Early education and youth development are the most effective strategies for breaking the cycle of at-risk behavior, and helping our youth thrive. Programs like these can be a powerful weapon in the battle for our children’s futures. Forging a better present for those who are children now is the surest way to ensure a better future for them as they mature.

Bruce Perry, M.D., Ph.D., Senior Fellow, The ChildTrauma Academy and author of The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog and BORN FOR LOVE: Why Empathy Is Essential — and Endangered put it succinctly:

What we are as adults is the product of the world we experienced as children. The way a society functions is a reflection of the childrearing practices of that society. Today, we reap what we have sown.

One of the huge factors that can rob a child of opportunities in his future is lack of access to an education. It  is one of the great tragedies of juvenile life in America that so many of our youth find the path to their future limited by a lack of access to learning.

Today I’d like to point out a few organizations doing excellent work as they strive to break down barriers between kids and education.

Education Justice.org 

Education Justice at Education Law Center seeks high quality educational opportunity for all children, including low-income and minority children, children learning English, and children with disabilities.

As part of ELC, EdJustice offers support services to a network of litigators and other education advocates across the country to secure the Opportunity To Learn and equity in funding and learning resources. EdJustice and ELC help advocates press state and federal policymakers to extend the excellence in wealthy suburban schools to low-wealth urban and rural communities and children.

Coalition for Educational Justice 

The NYC Coalition for Educational Justice (CEJ) is organizing a parent-led movement for educational equity and excellence in the city’s public schools. We are a citywide collaborative of community-based organizations and unions whose members are parents, community residents and teachers. Together, we are fighting to ensure that every child in NYC receives a quality and well-rounded education.

Alliance for Educational Justice

The Alliance for Educational Justice (AEJ) is a new national alliance of youth organizing and intergenerational groups working for educational justice.  AEJ aims to bring grassroots groups together to bring about changes in federal education policy, build a national infrastructure for the education justice sector, and build the capacity of our organizations and our youth leaders to sustain and grow the progressive movement over the long haul.

The Education Justice Project 

The mission of the Education Justice project is to build a model college-in-prison program that demonstrates the positive impacts of higher education upon incarcerated people, their families, the communities from which they come, and society as a whole. While this group does not deal directly with children it is vital nonetheless.

Research is clear. College-in-prison programs reduce arrest, conviction, and reincarceration rates among released prisoners. Evidence has also linked the presence of college-in-prison programs to fewer disciplinary incidents within prison, finding that such programs produce safer environments for prisoners and staff alike. College-prison programs also have benefits for inmates’ families and, hence, their communities. The strongest predictor of whether a given person will attend college is whether her or his parents did. When an incarcerated person receives a college education, whether or not s/he is eventually released, his or her children are more likely to pursue their own educations.

Note: Regular Blogging will resume Monday as I am in the midst of a cross country move. Please aprdon any delay in replying to your comments. 

Image by sleepyneko, used under its Creative Commons license