Blu-J by Stacey Price Brown

Author:Stacey Price Brown
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Mystery, Christian, Thrillers & Suspense, 90 Minutes (44-64 Pages), Thriller & Suspense, United States, Teen & Young Adult, Crime Fiction, African American, Crime, Literature & Fiction
Published: 2015-08-20T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT-Little Dee

Those who commit the most serious violent crimes and are tried as adults are sent to “secure” facilities. These adult facilities house juveniles in an adult facility which is the rough equivalent of a maximum-security prison. On the other end of the spectrum are the “non-secure” facilities designed for violent juvenile offenders. These juvenile facilities are located in upstate New York in the middle of nowhere.

I was sent to Crown Point Residential Center which is located in the mountains and surrounded by acres of dense forest. Once inside the detention center it is surrounded with 8 foot fences topped with two loops of razor wire.

Of the boys now at Crown Point, almost all are locked up for misdemeanors or low-level felonies. Most committed property offenses, like robbery or petty larceny, and about one sixth are imprisoned for assault or attempted assault. Roughly a third are here because they violated probation, either by getting re-arrested or disobeying rules, like failing drug tests, skipping school or staying out past curfew. To the kids from New York City, Crown Point feels like Siberia. The sun disappears by mid-afternoon, and the snow never seems to stop.

We were housed in jail cells and had to take community showers and meals. We left the prison to get to the school building. The trip to school required hats, gloves, and boots and then we had to walk a quarter-mile through howling wind. We had liberal phone privileges between six and eight and lights out by 9pm. Many of the inmates never get a visit. It’s difficult to get there without a car, and the trip by train and cab from New York City can run close to $300 round trip. Most of the parents cannot afford such an impossibly steep price while others have abandoned their children to their misdeeds.

There are twenty cells on each floor. Each block can house as many as 100 prisoners. The bed and desk are bolted down; steel mesh covers the windows. Rules dictate everything: how many books you can have; where you must keep your underwear; how many personal items you can keep in your cell. We were issued uniforms and not prison jumpsuits but the bright orange shirts and khaki pants were intentionally chosen as some psychologist’s report suggested that orange represents happiness and stimulation. Whoever chose these colors needs their head examined. Nearly 85 percent of the kids in the state’s juvenile prisons are African-American or Latino. On my unit, most of the boys are African-American, ten percent are Latino and, and five percent are white.

Juvenile prison is no different from the adult facility. You still have to watch your back; someone is always going to try to fight you, steal from you, rape you, or kill you. I was housed with violent juvenile offenders. I quickly learned what the others did to earn their time; gang violence, felonious assault, drug violations, and that sort of thing. There was a code I had to live by if I wanted to survive; an eye for an eye.

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