Apparently, Soule did not want a cellmate. It turns out that his father was a police officer and he feared retribution from his fellow inmates. He even went so far as to write a note saying “I will do my best to injure any roommate I may receive in the future.” Two weeks later, Michael was placed into Soule’s cell. Two weeks after that, Soule choked Michael to death (Hansen).
But there is also a double edge sword to this problem. Under California’s Proposition 21, anyone over the age of fourteen who is accused of violent crime must be tried as an adult and may be sent to an adult jail. And upon the recommendation of the county probation department, any kid in juvenile hall—regardless of age-can be remanded to adult jail. At any given time, around forty kids are housed in Los Angeles’s Men’s Central Jail or “CJ”. Once they are sent there, state and federal law says they must be kept out of the sight and sound of adult prisoners. The problem is, that once they are sent there, there are separate facilities for children. So in the name of safety, children are often being placed in some of the harshest conditions in the state-what amounts to solitary confinement (Olson). Let us consider the case of sixteen-year-old Long Beach, Ca., resident Jovan. Jovan spent four months in the CJ for armed robbery, it was his first offense and he was not the instigator of the crime. Jailers at CJ locked him in his cell for all but thirty minutes a day (Olsen).
Javier Stauring is a chaplain with the Los Angeles archdiocese and he says that conditions at the CJ are the worst he’s ever seen. “I’ve been to maybe ten different state prisons up and down California, and the way that they house the juveniles in the county jail here in L.A. is worse than any adult or juvenile institution in the state by far” he says. ”I have been inside the [isolation ward] in Pelican Bay, and I have visited with men who have been in there for fifteen years straight, and I’m telling you, what they are doing at the county jail here in L.A. is worse than what we’re doing in Pelican Bay.” Conditions at Pelican Bay’s isolation unit are so bad, that Amnesty International cited it for cruelty and a 1995 federal ruling said the unit’s conditions “may well hover on the edge of what is humanly tolerable for those with normal resilience.” (Olsen)
Noemi was also housed in the CJ at sixteen year of age. In July 2001, her sister tried to rob a woman on a sidewalk while brandishing a screwdriver and a can of pepper spray. Noemi was in the car but was convicted of felony-armed-robbery with her sister. It was her first offense. Noemi was locked up in administrative segregation and housed next to hardened criminals (Olsen).
Captain John Franklin, supervisor of the Twin Towers jail, told the Los Angeles Times that housing girls like Noemi in solitary
confinement “puts us in a bind, because we have to give her constant security…We have to make sure she is safe, and this is he safest place.”(Olsen)
Noemi felt far from “safe”. “ They say they housed me there to keep me away from the adults, but they would leave my slot open,” she says. “People could see and talk to me. One time this lady reached in and touched me. People would walk in my showers. One of them asked me if I was a lesbian and I was like, oh my God, what’s she going to do?” (Olsen) The amenities of these units include 24/7 lighting, little or no schooling, and cold food. Noemi slipped into a depression so deep that, when lawyers managed a transfer to juvenile hall for her, “I didn’t even want to leave my room,” she says (Olsen). Noemi’s mother had a hard time tying to visit her. When her mom would arrive they would tell her that she couldn’t be seen because she’s in solitary confinement. Then her mother would try to explain that Noemi was housed there because of her age. ”No ma’am, no one is just housed there, we’re pretty sure she did something, you can’t see her,” Noemi recalls (Olsen).
These cases point out serious dangers that children are exposed to inside adult prisons. One can only imagine the kind of long-term psychological effect that these conditions have on children. And again, what will happen when we send many of them back into society after their sentences are completed.
Not only violent kids sent to jail…
Proponents of sending kids to adult prisons have argued that it is necessary to keep violent kids locked up and away from society. But are we really sending only violent youth to adult prisons? The answer is no. One study conducted in 1991 concluded that only 28 percent of the juveniles prosecuted as adults in two Florida counties had been charged violent crimes. More than half of the youths had been charged with non-violent property crimes. Most of the juveniles convicted of non-violent in adult courts received jail sentences or probation terms that could have been given to them by a juvenile court (Hansen). “We’re giving up on too many of these kids who don’t profile as the aggressive violent offender”, said Shay Bilchik, director of the Child Welfare League of America (Hansen).
In 1995 and 1996 less than half the cases nationwide waived to criminal court involved violence against people. And one study released in October of 2000, Youth Crime/Adult Time, found that current laws were too broadly defined sending many juvenile to adult courts for non violent offenses. The study showed that 40 percent of the juveniles tried as adults were charged with non-violent crimes (McCormick).
Now children are even spending time in adult jails for grabbing lunch money from a classmate. 15-year-old Anthony Laster of West Palm Beach, Florida grabbed 2$ worth of lunch money from a classmate. Upon hearing of the case, local prosecutor Barry E. Krischer decided to charge Anthony as an adult-despite the fact that the kid was mentally disabled and communicated on level of a 5-year-old (Hansen).
Anthony was charged with strong-arm robbery and extortion, and under Florida’s tough juvenile justice system he faced the idea of life in an adult prison. His family could not afford the 500$ needed for bail, and he spent four weeks in the county jail (Hansen).
It was only after the CBS television “60 Minute II” took an interest in the case that charges against Anthony were dropped. However a court brief indicated that the only reason charges were dropped was because Anthony’s victim took-back his statement that he had been threatened with physical violence (Hansen).
Krischer did not offer an apology about charging Anthony. “The state [draws] the line when there is a threat of physical violence,” said Michael Edmondson, a spokesman for the state
attorney’s office. ”The intent is to show [juveniles] there will be an absolute consequence to their actions.” (Hansen)