Hundreds of Children Detained, Tortured

I swear…the whole fucking world has gone insane…absotively, posolutely, infuckingsane.

Why do we hate children so much? (Or hate each other so much, for that matter?)

Torture? Imprison? Hang? Electrocute?

CHILDREN??

Here, there and everywhere – humans seem to have lost all ability to reason or feel compassion.

Why…just…why?!

There is no reason for this; no reason for so much of what is going on in this world that rattles my brain so hard I swear it is going to scrape it’s way out of my skull and run away screaming…Ugh.

Here’s the story from The Independent

“Almost all the children I know of who were arrested after 25 January have been tortured…”

“Hundreds of children – some as young as nine – have been illegally detained and in many cases tortured by the Egyptian police following the protests which erupted after the second anniversary of the 2011 uprising.

In what lawyers and activists say is a retrenchment of state brutality akin to the worst abuses of power during Hosni Mubarak’s regime, large numbers of children have been unlawfully imprisoned in camps used by Egypt’s central security forces.

Rights groups say that many of those detained have been subjected to cruel mistreatment, including beatings, electrocution and “hanging” torture. Others were forced by their tormentors to strip naked before being drenched with cold water.

One lawyer said he believed that up to 400 children, many of them barely teenagers, may have been rounded up during police operations following the outbreak of street clashes on 25 January, the anniversary of Egypt’s rebellion two years ago.”

If you can stomach it, the full story can be found Here.

Caging Our Kids

“The YIA cellblock is home to 53 kids who are rarely permitted to leave the unit, due to the dangers posed by the adult prisoners just outside their door. But once a youth offender turns 18, they begin the immediate transition into the general prison population, where thousands of adult prisoners await…”

And as if locking children up for longer periods of time than many adults will ever serve isn’t shameful enough, we make matters worse when we then isolate them in solitary confinement. They get no human comfort or contact, no education, no mental health care…the system literally helps to drive troubled young kids stark raving mad.

Is this really the best we can do for our kids…for our future??

Learn more about the dangers of harsh sentencing and use of solitary confinement on children -

Kids In Cages

If this article disturbs you then please take a moment and check out my new endeavor – a blog partnership with my husband as we return to prison advocacy volunteer work and try to raise public awareness about the cost, dangers and alarmingly expanded use of solitary confinement as a form of rehabilitative punishment.

“The SHU” “The Hole” “Control Units” “Isolation Cells”…”HELL”…”Deprivation Chambers”…”Mind Destroyers”…”Madness Makers”…

We blog about some general prison issues but our primary goal is to raise awareness about all aspects of solitary confinement in prisons and the detrimental effects it has on the human mind, body and spirit. Thanks to my husband, Steve, for jumping right in with help & support! ♥

“Hello Kitty” Terrorist Plot Prevented By School

Why the hell even bother sending kids to school? Wouldn’t it save The State $$ if they just started all kids on probation from age 4 and skip the IDIOTIC pretense that school is ‘for the good’ of the children instead of what it is…a monstrous mechanism that exists solely to prepare children for 2 paths – debt slave or outright imprisoned slave.

This story is just so far over the top that it makes my head spin like a merry-go-round on steroids…

“A 5-year-old girl was suspended from school earlier this week after she made what the school called a “terrorist threat.”

Her weapon of choice? A small, Hello Kitty automatic bubble blower.

The kindergartner, who attends Mount Carmel Area Elementary School in Pennsylvania, caught administrators’ attention after suggesting she and a classmate should shoot each other with bubbles.

“I think people know how harmless a bubble is. It doesn’t hurt,” said Robin Ficker, an attorney for the girl’s family. According to Ficker, the girl, whose identity has not been released, didn’t even have the bubble gun toy with her at school. 

The kindergartner was ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation during her 10-day suspension, which was later reduced to two days. The evaluation deemed the girl normal and not a threat to others, Ficker said.”

Full Story Here

Teens escape J. Paul Taylor Center After Tying Up Female Officer

How many more problems is it going to take before taxpayers in Dona Ana county demand an investigation into the juvenile detention center? How are we rehabilitating children in an environment that cannot even keep employees, never mind teenage offenders, safe from harm? Why are we not demanding decent conditions and care for our young offenders and why can’t we ensure that older and more violent offenders are dealt with as they should be – in the ADULT penitentiary rather than a low-security youth facility?

Kidnapping Hoax May Land Teen Couple in Hot Water

Proving once again that teenage brains are capable of making the most ridiculous and badly thought out choices…

From SLC Tribune  “…Charges are being screened against a 17-year-old boy who falsely claimed he was kidnapped so he could stay at his girlfriend’s house instead of going home.

Salt Lake City police said the boy did not want to return home Monday night at his father’s request. They boy then sent a text to his dad that stated he would never see his son again…”

Read More at Kidnapping hoax may land teen couple in hot water | The Salt Lake Tribune.

Best Treatment For At Risk Kids Is To Be Sold Out For Profit?

Image by cwarnercarey via Flickr

Tsk, tsk New Mexico! Is this really the best we can do for the children of this state? Where on earth did our lawmakers get the idea that it is okay to turn the fate and future of our kids over to a for-profit corporation? Could it be that legislators are in bed with this insurance corporation, Optum Health?

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - “A shift in the way New Mexico treats juvenile offenders has left some children adrift in their communities and in need of services, according to sources in the juvenile justice system.

“I believe that the current system needs a lot of work,” said Yolanda Deines, secretary of the Children, Youth and Families Department.

Take, for example, the current situation at the Youth Diagnostic and Development Center in Albuquerque, a state-run juvenile detention center. Once juvenile offenders are sentenced, they are sent to the facility to determine what kind of treatment they need and where they will receive it.

That process is supposed to take three weeks, but is now taking up to three months…”

Read Full Article Here On KRQE

Related articles

• Five Evolution of The Juvenile Justice System (socyberty.com)
• The Juvenile Justice System Should Focus on Rehabilitation (socyberty.com)
• Mom Lashes Out at “Cash for Kids” Judge (theroot.com)

Fixing The Mistake With Young Offenders

Image via Wikipedia

NYTimes Editorial 4-3-11

There is new evidence that state governments are finally understanding what a tragic mistake they made during the 1990s when they began trying ever larger numbers of children as adults instead of sending them to the juvenile justice system.

Prosecutors argued that harsh sentencing would protect the public from violent, youthful predators. But it has since turned out that most young people who spend time in jails and prisons are charged with nonviolent offenses. As many as half are never convicted of anything at all. In addition, research has shown that these young people are vulnerable to battery and rape at the hands of adult inmates and more likely to become violent, lifelong criminals than those who are held in juvenile custody.

A new study by the Campaign for Youth Justice, a Washington advocacy group, shows that state legislatures across the country are getting the message. In the last five years, the authors say, 15 states have passed nearly 30 pieces of legislation aimed at reversing policies that funnel a quarter of a million children into the adult justice system each year.

Ten states, including Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana and Nevada, have cut the number of offenses that get youthful offenders automatically transferred to adult courts.

Three states have expanded the jurisdiction of the juvenile courts, so that children under 18 are no long automatically prosecuted as adults. And several states have limited the circumstances under which young people can be housed in adult lock-ups before or after conviction.

Momentum is building for similar reforms all across the country. For example, Nebraska is considering a bill that would give people sentenced as juveniles to life without parole an opportunity to petition for reductions.

Far too many children are still being sentenced by adult courts and confined to adult prisons. But this study shows that the tide has begun to turn.

Related Articles

• Editorial: Fixing the Mistake With Young Offenders (nytimes.com)
• The Juvenile Justice System Should Focus on Rehabilitation (socyberty.com)
• NYT: Juveniles look to court to ease life sentences (msnbc.msn.com)

Back To Basics

Notice – there is no mention of corporations or profit-driven entities being a part of this process. Interesting…

11 Year Old Stick Figure Artist Arrested

Image via Wikipedia

An 11-year-old Arvada boy was arrested and taken away in handcuffs for drawing stick figures in school, something his therapist told him to do.

The boy’s parents say they understand what he did was inappropriate, but are outraged by the way Arvada Police handled the case. The parents do not want their real names used.

The parents said “Tim” is being treated for Attention Deficit Disorder and his therapist told him to draw pictures when he got upset, rather than disrupt the class. So that’s what he did.

Last October, he drew stick figures of himself with a gun, pointed at four other stick figures with the words “teacher must die.”

He felt calmer and was throwing the picture away when the teacher saw it and sent him to the principal’s office.

The school was aware that the boy was in treatment, determined he was not a threat, notified his parents and sent him back to class. His mother, “Jane” was shocked when Arvada Police showed up at their home later that night.

She says she told her son to cooperate and tell the truth, but was horrified when they told her they were arresting him and then handcuffed him and hauled him away in a patrol car. His mother says she begged police to let her drive her son to the police department and to let her stay with him through the booking process but they refused.

They put him in a cell, took his mug shot and fingerprinted him. He says he thought he was going to jail and would never be able to go home again.

Read More Here