Thoughts from Central Juvenile Hall  

  04.19.06

Posted in Uncategorized at 1:31 pm by Jyoti Puvvula

The alarm goes off at 7:30AM on Sunday. I toss and turn on my only day off in a while, that I do not need to wake up early- I debate with myself and look for excuses as to why I might consider continuing my blissful sleep instead of going into juvie hall and talking to troubled youth after the Sunday mass. I tell myself- oh! it is Father Greg (Boyle) conducting mass today- he can take any reading and instill hope into anyone- he can even keep the packed chapel with young boys and girls in juvenile detention awake, forget they are sitting next to their enemy gangs and bring them to tears. So I go.

After the mass, I head to the Girls Care Unit (which is the unit for girls with psychological issues requiring medications) for a group session. This week there are only four girls who manage to get themselves to group. Few of them who could not make it are unwell, another is in lock down and solitary confinement for over 24 hours now, for getting into a fight.

I start by asking them how their week was and when their court date is.

One tells us—she was doing fine until her gang was "dissed". She got into a fight since she had to defend it and ended up in lock up. She is upset she was not able to control her anger. Her court date is near and this will reflect on her. She may not get to go home for some more time. She has been here for over 10 months. That is the last time she saw her almost 15 month old daughter. She tells us that she has spent more time in here in the last 3 years than on the outs when she started getting into trouble at the age of 12 after her father died and she did not get along with her mother’s new boyfriend.

A second girl of 16 tells us how she is too smart to be in a gang. She’s "gotta" do her time and get out. She is not sure she can stay away from the crystal meth that has consumed her life. She shares one of her writings with us:

Another tells a fellow volunteer at the Boys Care Unit his court date is coming up and he is scared. He is 16. He has been here for a while and depending on his sentence may spend much of his life here. He shares his dreams, his aspiration if he is given a chance. He shares something he had written. It was written much more eloquently than I can remember, but it was something about –

And then he goes on to ask Steven and Gilberto, if we can change his destiny?

I don’t know can we change his destiny. Can we change the destiny of a whole generation who have lost their youth behind these barbed wire fences?

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Thoughts from Central Juvenile Hall  

Posted in Uncategorized at 1:31 pm by Jyoti Puvvula

The alarm goes off at 7:30AM on Sunday. I toss and turn on my only day off in a while, that I do not need to wake up early- I debate with myself and look for excuses as to why I might consider continuing my blissful sleep instead of going into juvie hall and talking to troubled youth after the Sunday mass. I tell myself- oh! it is Father Greg (Boyle) conducting mass today- he can take any reading and instill hope into anyone- he can even keep the packed chapel with young boys and girls in juvenile detention awake, forget they are sitting next to their enemy gangs and bring them to tears. So I go.

After the mass, I head to the Girls Care Unit (which is the unit for girls with psychological issues requiring medications) for a group session. This week there are only four girls who manage to get themselves to group. Few of them who could not make it are unwell, another is in lock down and solitary confinement for over 24 hours now, for getting into a fight.

I start by asking them how their week was and when their court date is.
One tells us- she was doing fine until her gang was “dissed”. She got into a fight since she had to defend it and ended up in lock up. She is upset she was not able to control her anger. Her court date is near and this will reflect on her. She may not get to go home for some more time. She has been here for over 10 months. That is the last time she saw her almost 15 month old daughter. She tells us that she has spent more time in here in the last 3 years than on the outs when she started getting into trouble at the age of 12 after her father died and she did not get along with her mother’s new boyfriend.

A second girl of 16 tells us how she is too smart to be in a gang. She’s “gotta” do her time and get out. She is not sure she can stay away from the crystal meth that has consumed her life. She shares one of her writings with us:

Another tells a fellow volunteer at the Boys Care Unit his court date is coming up and he is scared. He is 16. He has been here for a while and depending on his sentence may spend much of his life here. He shares his dreams, his aspiration if he is given a chance. He shares something he had written. It was written much more eloquently than I can remember, but it was something about –

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