Criminal Injustice-Adult Incarceration

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

This entry was posted on 10. June 2009 at 13:15 and is filed under Prison Reform Advocates, Juvenile Reform Advocates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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