Throughout this year we have exposed many of the injustices committed by California’s Division of Juvenile Justice but this week the DJJ got shamed with a CBS Sacramento report featuring members of our Families for Books Not Bars Network. Below you will find a story written by Jack… Read more
Oakland politicians have proposed a youth curfew in response to the tragic death of another child. It’s almost a political ritual – every few years we return to this idea that clearing young people off the streets will solve Oakland’s problems of crime and violence.
This debate is… Read more
The protest at the Ventura Youth Prison on Sunday, August 21, 2011 was truly amazing. Everyone who attended gave it their all.
It also made me take a hard look at the long fight we still have in the DJJ. As we gathered at the area they designated… Read more
This blog originally appeared as an Op-Ed in the Los Angeles Daily News.
When I first held my oldest son Jesse 17 years ago in my arms, the light in his eyes was so bright. Growing up in the San Fernando Valley, he loved to write and… Read more
I had forgotten their stories. I had put away in my mind the incarceration of two of my younger siblings when they were teenagers. My brother was maced into signing his confession, and imprisoned for almost a year. My baby sister was sent hours away from home to a correctional… Read more
As a person of faith, I believe that living out my faith is a call to promote freedom. In our society, however, freedom seems to exist as a privilege for those with more power and opportunities. Freedom is definitely a tricky thing for the youth who live behind the bars… Read more
Joaquin originally recorded this piece for Perspectives on KQED. You can listen to his story online.
Spending two years in the Division of Juvenile Justice, California’s youth prison system, changed my life. I will never forget the violence and trauma I experienced.
At 16, I… Read more
Spending two years in the Division of Juvenile Justice, California’s youth prison system, changed my life forever. I will never forget the violence and devastation I witnessed.
After being arrested for attempted burglary, I was eventually committed to Preston Youth Correctional Facility, then to O.H. Close Youth Correctional Facility. Preston… Read more
When I watched the news video of Sandy Fonzo, confronting the crooked judge who sent her son to prison, tears immediately started to run down my cheeks. My heart simply broke for this mom whose son committed suicide. What touched my heart the most was all the pain… Read more
When I joined the Ella Baker Center family in the spring of 2007, my biggest learning curve was related to our youth prison reform work. I certainly agreed academically with our Books Not Bars platform, but I had very limited knowledge of just how badly broken… Read more
