Juvenile Justice and Prison Rehabilitation

By Emily Domingue

 

This year in my Honors Capstone work, I am continuing my research into juvenile rehabilitation. When I studied this topic last year, I researched various rehabilitative methods and legislation regarding the juvenile court. For my work this year, I want to share stories of those who have experienced life in the criminal justice system and also try to implement change in my own community. 

Although my efforts didn’t yield the results I desired, I attempted in the first semester to start a nonprofit gardening project in a local juvenile detention facility. I began by contacting an administrator at Lafayette Juvenile Facility to schedule a meeting. When my mother and I arrived at the gate of this facility, we could hear the children within the facility knocking from the windows in their rooms, although we could not see them. The knocking continued until we entered the building and could no longer hear them. I met with two administrators at the facilities. They complimented my research and ideas, even calling my work “phenomenal.” However, they informed me that this project could not be implemented due to a lack of staffing and behavioral problems of the juveniles. 

I observed that the facility was severely understaffed. Officials explained to me that there are some days when the children cannot be taken outside at all for recreational time. Although they applauded my idea, the administrators at the facility expressed concerns that insufficient staffing would leave community volunteers potentially at risk among the juvenile offenders. Also, they explained that many of the juveniles do not stay at the facility for more than a couple of weeks and are often transferred, so sustaining an onsite garden would be difficult with a constantly shifting population. 

In truth, the experience of visiting the juvenile detention facility was devastating. I have researched issues of understaffing and the sad reality of the life of juveniles in detention homes, but actually seeing it in my own community was different. The children in this facility are having to watch life go by through a window, and potentially beneficial programs can’t be offered to them because of lack of resources. This field experience made me realize more than ever the importance of rehabilitation opportunities for juvenile offenders. 

While my efforts to start a nonprofit have stalled, I am moving forward with creating a podcast for the National Public Radio (NPR) Student Podcast Challenge. I want my podcast to focus on the criminal justice system, and I have contacted an ASH alumna to get me started. Ms. Clare Svendson Roubion (‘07) worked in criminal defense early in her legal career and graciously connected me with an an interview subject, Mr. Kerry Myers. Mr. Myers spent over twenty years in prison for a crime that he did not commit. He was imprisoned at Angola, and upon release he has been an active advocate for inmate rehabilitation. 

Mr. Myers is currently the deputy director of the Louisiana Parole Project, a nonprofit organization that works to provide legal representation and reentry services to parole-eligible persons who have spent over twenty years in prison. Mr. Myers was chosen as Representative Ambassador in 2019, contributed to writing the book The Meaning of Life, and even wrote for the Angolite Magazine. Connecting with him and hearing his story will give me a firsthand account of the prison system, rehabilitation opportunities available, and the nature of a prison environment. My interview with him will help me to understand the inner workings of the prison system, and he has offered to connect me with juvenile offenders he knows to add their perspective to my story as well. 

This final year in the Honors Program has been the most educational of all my years. I was able to go into the real world and learn about the issues I’ve been researching. Having the opportunity to actually visit a juvenile facility was really eye-opening. Next semester, my interviews with people who have actually experienced the criminal justice system will deepen my understanding of my research even further. This year has allowed me to apply all of the research I have done over the last four years and make real world connections that I hope might make a real world difference.