11. June 2009 by Rev Young.

There are many large organizations who have joined with Senator Webb in calling for the Criminal Justice Commission.  The letter below is from one of them.

If you would like to view this email in your Web browser, click here.   Dear Friend, This Thursday, June 11th at 3 p.m., Prison Fellowship’s own Pat Nolan will testify at a Senate subcommittee hearing to offer system-wide solutions that focus on the biblical philosophy of restorative justice. Click here to watch the webcast and grab your front row seat! America’s prisons are overcrowded, understaffed, often violent, and little is done to promote rehabilitation or prepare inmates for release. We are dedicated to transforming the lives of prisoners and their families through the power of Jesus Christ. As part of that mission, we also strive for criminal justice reform. Led by Pat Nolan, Justice Fellowship works alongside some of our nation’s most influential policymakers to fix a system that’s so clearly broken. Thursday afternoon’s hearing will examine a proposal to launch a long overdue review of the crisis gripping our criminal justice system. Pat’s dedication to going beyond crime and punishment has earned the respect of national lawmakers. And that’s why he’s been asked to testify. After the webcast, continue the discussion by following Justice Fellowship on Twitter. Through prayer, commitment and the ongoing quest for the truth and wisdom of our God and Father, we can build a justice system that brings true healing to victims, offenders and our communities.   Thank you and may God bless you. The Staff of Prison Fellowship

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11. June 2009 by Rev Young.

Senator Webb has made a bold proposal that the United States create a commission to study, review and report on the condition of our criminal justice system in this nation.  Some of you may remember a commission that was created several years ago to investigate the practices and conditions of our nations prisons.  If you have not heard of, or read this report, you may find it at www.prisoncommission.org.  From the findings of this commission, several programs and ideas have launched that eventually will bring change to our practices of incareration. 

This next commission will investigate the entire system of criminal justice from start to finish.  Many leaders, law makers and legislative members have come to the conclusion that our entire system is broken and in severe need of reform.  There will be a hearing today on this very legislation.  See below.

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11. June 2009 by Rev Young.

The practice of the Direct File Statute allows for District Attorney’s to transfer a juvenile case to adult court.  Once that happens, the charges become adult charges, the sentences become adult sentences and the life of a young person is permanently changed.

There have been many cases that have garnered national media attention from horrendous crimes and acts of violence perpetrated by a youth.  While the media and the press releases from the District Attorney’s office deliver to us a portrait of a child killer, the truth and facts of the stories are far more devastating.  Behind these gruesome stories are histories of physical and sexual abuse, mental illness, addiction, generational gang violence, false confessions leading to injustice, entrapment and questionable interrogation practices, MIRANDA rights violations, constitutional rights violations and abuse on these young people from the authorities that are holding them. 

In the past 20 years we have created a trail of terror for us as American citizens and we aren’t even aware of it.  We have given ourselves over to media sensationalism, sound bites that influence our opinions and refused to look at the results of our choices and laws.  If you have children in this country I am calling you to awaken and begin to take a long honest look at the conditions in your schools, communities, juvenile centers, justice centers, jails and prisons.  Your child may be safe in your arms today but what is your child’s future?  Are the systems we depend upon in this country truly preparing for and providing a future for your child?  Or are we choosing, as a nation of uneducated and uncommitted parents, to rid ourselves of a generation of children?

This may sound very harsh and even exaggerated.  It is not.  We have lost 15,000 lives to the generational gang wars in California.  These youngsters are not raised with right and wrong, as we suppose, they are raised with “survive or die”.  We have 20,000 young people locked in adult facilities across this nation every night of the year.  We have Children as young as 13 sentenced to die in prison.  We have no mental health programs for children and as a result we use juvenile detention facilities as their treatment centers.  Educators EXPECT and ACCEPT the fact that one third of all sixth graders entering middle school and one third of all ninth graders entering high school will fail.  They prepare prison beds based on those failures.  Upwards of 10,000 young adult people (per state !) with developmental disabilities have no programs or resources for their care or rehabilitation!  This nation has fallen dramatically in it’s international ranking for the education of children. 

With all of this neglect, we wonder why we have so much trouble among our youth.  We have abandoned our responsibilities and our children.  We have allowed laws to be put in place that say our children are not redeemable, that you cannot rehabilitate a child.  We no longer believe that children make mistakes, even really big ones, but they can be reformed and become contributing citizens. 

And we have lost our voice.  We choose not to speak out.  We choose to believe that our voice is not important.  We put blinders on and choose not to look at the problems around us.  I believe the day and time has come for us to take back our voice.  I applaud you for reading these blog articles and educating yourself on these issues.  I hope it has caused you to research issues involving the children in this country and education, reform and rehabilitation practices.  Now I am asking you to use your voice.  Write or call your senators, representatives and national leaders.  Speak out for reform and change.  Bring America’s focus back to the children of this country.  Let us speak out so that we start caring for our children instead of trying to bail out corporations.  Speak out so that we can get back to our basic moral responsibilities……caring for children, families and building a future for this nation.

Every major shift in history has come from a group of citizens who united in VOICE and caused change.  I ask you to use your voice.  Please click on the video link from Campaign For Youth Justice.  http://www.campaign4youthjustice.org/video.html#

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10. June 2009 by Rev Young.

Many of us are under the false impression that only felons end up serving time in adult prisons.  This is not the case.  Even misdemeanor crimes can and do receive a sentence to prison.  This includes juvenile misdemeanor cases that have been direct filed into adult court.  An even further criminal injustice is that the majority of juveniles serving sentences in adult prison facilities were only an accessory after the fact in a crime and some of them did not result in the death of any victim.  This is true of  two cases being heard in the Supreme Court. 

Still these young people are held in adult prisons and while this fact is disturbing, it is not as disturbing as what happens before they are sentenced.  The direct file statute states that if a District Attorney files charges on a juvenile in adult court, the juvenile must be housed in an adult facility while the court proceedings are concluded.  This means that during the time that a court is determining their guilt or innocence, a juvenile is subjected to incarceration in county jails across this country.  The laws in most states require that a juvenile be separated from adults who are held at the same facility.  In order to comply with the law, most county jails have to hold juveniles in holding cells.  They are isolated for 23 hours a day, coming out for one hour to shower and maybe exercise.  There is current legislation that would end this practice called The Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Act.

I will relate one testimony of a juvenile offender to you, of his experience in county jail.  He was placed in a holding cell that was used for suicide watch.  In this cell, the lights stayed on 24 hours a day so he lost track of day and night and even the number of days he had been held.  He created his own calender so that he could track days.  He told time by the routine sounds of the facility and the activity around him.  He would go 2 and 3 days between showers because the jail did not have the extra staff to deal with him.  When he was allowed out to shower, he was moved with his hands and legs shackled.  He had never been in a situation where he was hated so much.  He had gone from being an ordinary kid to being treated as a monster.  He was not allowed to go outside with the exception of three yard times in almost three years.  This resulted in severe vitamin D deficiency and deterioration of his eye sight.  He was in solitary confinement, a condition that prisoners of war herald as the most debilitating part of their captivity.  It is also recognized by the military as a condition that must be treated in order for the soldier to return to normal function.  Remember, this kid had not even been tried or convicted.  He was only held on charges and in this country we are “innocent until proven guilty”.  Or so they say.

Once a juvenile has been sentenced to an adult facility, they are subjected to a society and social hierarchy that they are unprepared for.  They are preyed upon, abused, neglected, beaten and terrorized.  That is the truth.  If they are fortunate, they are large enough in stature to defend themselves.  If they are not…….they will become victims in prison. 

The conditions of our prison facilities are atrocious.  The social structure and hierarchy in prisons, that are established and maintained by prison authorities, are destructive and violent.  We expect people to “learn their lesson” while they are in prison and we expect them to return to their communities a better person.  We are so mistaken in our assumptions.

Don’t believe it is that bad?  Click on the link below and see for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MOtz-eJlPE&feature=email

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10. June 2009 by Rev Young.

When we are confronted with juveniles who have violated the rules, we have a system them deals with these young people and help to set them on the right path right?  WRONG.  Even the officials that are charged with running these facilities will tell you that they are not adequately prepared, educated, staffed or funded to deal with these young people and help them to become successful.

Because we have taken the focus off of our children in our communities, we leave the state to try and find solutions.  Government entities are used to facilities.  Facilities are sterile environments that house these individuals for predetermined terms of confinement.  They are not structures or organizations of modeling and change, they are places of confinement. 

We choose, as a society, not to take a look inside these facilities.  We read the headlines involving juvenile crime statistics, shake our head and then forget about them.  We also are not prepared to deal with the reality that it could very easily be your son or daughter.  Our ZERO TOLERANCE attitude makes us feel that we are protecting our children.  Then one day someone is not tolerant of your child’s youthful pranks and you and your family are plunged into a system that you were not prepared for.  DON’T THINK SO?

Imagine that your child has asked permission to attend a birthday party for one of his/her friends at this friends home.  Imagine that there is drinking at this party. Of course, if you had known this would happen, you would not have given your permission.  How many of us engaged in this same activity when we were teenagers?  Now imagine that the police show up at this party and arrests are made.  Suddenly your son/daughter is calling you from a police station.  You and your child will be faced with a system that you are not prepared to deal with.  Suppose that your child ends up in court and is sentenced to a juvenile detention facility for 30 days.  It can and does happen. 

We cannot turn away from the problems in our communities or the lack of adequate and APPROPRIATE solutions.  I believe that we do not address these issues because we would have to realize our responsibility and we would be forced to look at very ugly circumstances.  The truth is….it is ugly, it is a mess, it is broken, it is in need of repair.  We will not be able to make the changes necessary until we are willing to take off our rose colored glasses, roll up our sleeves and brave the awful truth.  If you think I am exaggerating or you want a snapshot of what I am talking about, click on the link below.  You can go inside of a juvenile detention facility and see for yourself.  TIME magazine did an incredible job at presenting this story.

http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/juveniles/

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10. June 2009 by Rev Young.

The call for criminal justice and prison reform has been building momentum for years.  Those who have experienced our system of justice and the resulting incarceration know first hand the state of disrepair our country is in.  We have witnessed the violations of personal and constitutional rights.  We have witnessed the mistreatment of human beings who are currently in prison. 

Many people will justify this moral decay with “if you can’t do the time then don’t do the crime”.  Those that make these kind of statements should count themselves lucky that the mistakes they have made were not brought to the attention of authorities and did not end in prison sentences. 

I believe that we, as advocates, have done ourselves and those we advocate for a grave injustice by not being blatantly honest about the current conditions of communities, education, criminal justice systems and corrections systems.  We have tried to play the political game and used the appropriate phrases so as not to “offend ” anyone while we tried to gain their support.  This has not been productive thus far and I do not believe it ever will be.  The first statement that must be made to all of the die-hard legislators that continue spouting tired rhetoric about the current laws that incarcerate youth for outrageous sentences is that “WE HAVE BEEN DOING THIS YOUR WAY FOR 20 YEARS WITHOUT POSITIVE RESULTS.  IT IS TIME FOR A CHANGE!”  “IF THE ANSWER TO JUVENILE CRIME WAS ADULT INCARCERATION, WE WOULD HAVE SEEN THE IMPACT IN JUVENILE CRIME RATES AND INCARCERATION RATES.” 

JUVENILE CRIME IS ONLY A SYMPTOM OF A MUCH DEEPER PROBLEM THAT STARTS IN OUR COMMUNITIES AND THIS COUNTRIES COMMITTMENT TO IT’S CHILDREN.

I will say that there are some candidates and government officials that are finally seeing the connection between the lack of funding and attention given to early childhood education and intervention and the rise in prison populations.  This is called the school to prison pipeline.  Yes there are really reports and statistics that give this information and they use the failure of children in elementary school to predict how many prison beds they will need for the future!  They are actually preparing for these young children who fail and LOOKING FORWARD to their entrance into prison!  If you think I am mistaken about this, please click on the video link and see for yourself.  This video is from a candidate for the Virginia Governor’s seat. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-Yeprm-Z8U

If you want further information then I ask you to follow this link and it will give even more information concerning the issue of education funding and early intervention.  http://www.smartoncrimesolutions.org/Special%20Education%20Concerns.ppt

In the state of Colorado, education disabilities are not categorized as a disability requiring intervention and treatment.  For instance if your child is dyslexic or diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, he/she will not receive the intervention that can train them at an early age, to overcome these disabilities and become successful students.  If you are having difficulty keeping up with your studies and your classmates, you develop an identity of yourself.  You see yourself as a failure and you begin to actualize this belief.  This starts the negative self image and the resulting behavior problems. 

When are our children going to become the focus of this nation?  When are we going to realize that they are the future of this country and therefore our most precious resource?  When are we going to be willing to stop our self- indulgent behavior long enough to grab the hand of a child?  They have been given to us as a responsibility and a charge.  How they turn out and who they become is a result of our investment.  Apparently we have not invested much.

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