{"id":673,"date":"2018-03-28T15:00:30","date_gmt":"2018-03-28T19:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nlg.org\/guild-notes\/?post_type=article&p=673"},"modified":"2019-03-21T15:51:05","modified_gmt":"2019-03-21T19:51:05","slug":"beyond-bars-children-in-prison-is-torturous","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.nlg.org\/guild-notes\/article\/beyond-bars-children-in-prison-is-torturous\/","title":{"rendered":"BEYOND BARS: Children in Prison is Torturous"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Tyrone Reyes<\/strong>
\nJackson, MI<\/p>\n

Children in adult prisons is unconstitutional,. It amazes me that the judicial system believes it\u2019s morally okay to put vulnerable children in adult prisons to be preyed upon. I came to prison when I was just 16 years old. I\u2019ll be 38 this year. Prison is nothing more than a torture chamber for our young kids. Nightmares that a normal kid may have about the Boogie Man in the comfort of their parents\u2019 home is nothing compared to the living nightmares children have to endure on a daily basis in prison.
\nI was truly blessed to survive physically and mentally. I had a strong support system that helped me grow into the man that I am today. Most children coming to prison are not as fortunate. Plus, they don\u2019t have the necessary skills needed to survive. No matter what state you\u2019re living in, children are getting tortured by prisoners and correctional officers alike. Parents and family are unable to help in these dire moments. Going to the officials will most likely become a death sentence or close to it. Number one rule: No telling.<\/p>\n

My first taste of reality came within my first two weeks in prison. I was scared out of my mind. I witnessed a young kid my age getting raped and I couldn\u2019t do anything about it. Luckily for me, they didn\u2019t see me, because I silently ran away before they could. My heart went out to him, but there was nothing I could do. It pained me to see him walking around defeated because the unthinkable happened to him. This is a kid\u2019s worst nightmare.<\/p>\n

Every night, I would dwell on this. It dawned on me that this could have easily been my fate. What could I have done to prevent this from happening to me? It\u2019s easy to say \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have let it happen.\u201d That\u2019s the tough guy in me. In reality, I was only 5\u20195\u201d, weighing only 133 lbs. I was no match against the two guys that had muscles all over. They were at least 5\u201910\u201d or taller. Both of them weighed over 200 lbs.<\/p>\n

I prayed to God thanking him for sparing me and prayed that he continue to watch over me. I told myself, \u201cSomething has to be done about this.\u201d Over the years, I became a huge advocate trying to abolish sending children to prison with adults. Honestly speaking, the system is catering to pedophiles by giving them children on a silver platter. Is this really justice and in the best interest of the public?
\nYes, our children do time for committing a crime, but to treat them worse than adults by sending them to get tortured is unconstitutional. Progress is slowly being made. According to the Supreme Court, children can no longer be given mandatory life without the possibility of parole. In the name of humanity, we need to stop sending our children to prison with these hardcore adult criminals.
\nWe need to stop spending $35,000 on locking up children and spend that money on their education and preventing them from getting in trouble. They need guidance and treatment in order to assure that they can cope through seeing drugs and violence on a daily basis. Be proactive in our children\u2019s lives. When they see adults care, they\u2019ll start caring again.<\/p>\n

Every state needs to take a stance, protect our children\u2019s dignity by not sending them to get assaulted or raped. \u25a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Tyrone Reyes Jackson, MI Children in adult prisons is unconstitutional,. It amazes me that the judicial system believes it\u2019s morally okay to put vulnerable children in adult prisons to be preyed upon. I came to prison when I was just 16 years old. I\u2019ll be 38 this year. Prison is nothing more than a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":172,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"issuem_issue":[159],"issuem_issue_categories":[188],"issuem_issue_tags":[28,29],"class_list":["post-673","article","type-article","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","issuem_issue-guild-notes-vol-43-no-1-spring-2018","issuem_issue_categories-beyond-bars","issuem_issue_tags-beyond-bars","issuem_issue_tags-prisons","post"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t