[Music]
my first teaching experience was trying
to teach poetry to four boys at a youth
detention facility under the blaring
buzz of fluorescent lights the prompt I
gave was right about the first time you
realized you loved your mother there was
this kid in the back named Demetrius
slouching
I mean nearly horizontally and this cold
beige plastic plastic chair completely
etched and gang tagging and suddenly he
sits up within seconds his pencil began
scribbling out these poetic stanzas and
I sat there thinking to myself this is
moments later they lift their heads from
the page and one kid says I want to
remind I want to remind okay Demetrius
please read after he’d finished asked
him to explain to the group what he
wrote well when I was 12 years old my
mama took us to Toys R Us for Christmas
presents we’re walking up and down every
aisle but mama wasn’t putting anything
in the cart about 30 minutes later we
leave the store and me and my brother
sit to a mat because mama didn’t buy
anything but but when we got back to the
car mama pulled all these toys from
underneath her jacket
and in that moment I knew I love my mama
[Applause]
because she risked getting arrested for
interesting what do you mean by
interesting interesting well I mean it
sounds like you equate stealing with
love Demetrius can I ask you what are
you in here for man like what are you
locked up for shoplifting in that moment
14 years ago I was fulfilling a crazy
vision that I had to teach poetry to
juvenile detention offenders in Los
Angeles now the crazy part was that I
wasn’t it wasn’t about going into jail
and working with gang members because as
a team I spent five years on juvenile
probation but the crazy part is that I
had the audacity to think that something
so out of the box like poetry would help
I remember my first trip to Camp
Gonzales youth detention facility and I
was walking up the sidewalk towards the
entrance when the van pulled up very
curious about who I’d be teaching poetry
to I lagged my steps just a little bit
to get a glimpse of the new arrivals
check them out and expecting to see
these hardened criminals with gang
tattoos and ball heads I was sadly
mistaken I the vehicle step six young
men in orange jumpsuits each with the
full head of hair and looking so young
each standing no taller than my chin as
they wobbled past me with shackles on
their feet and cuffs on their wrists
the oldest in that group was 17 and in
that moment I realized that they were
only children and we’re losing them an
alarming rate jail is not the answer
there is a better way for kids stuck in
the justice system to transform their
lives when those kids walk by me I
thought to myself there’s something
extraordinary wrong with this picture
here why do they look so different than
they’re portrayed on the news the public
has this perception of incarcerated
youth that is so false as I just
witnessed these scare children pumping
up their chests to look fearless and
since that day I’ve worked with
thousands of incarcerated kids and I can
tell you right now that they’re just
that kids kids the United States
incarcerate more children than any other
developed country in the world we are 4%
of the world’s population but we house
22% of the world’s prisoners
incarcerated kids only have about a 30
percent chance to not become an
incarcerated adult now what you’d
imagine what would it be like if you
were judged for the rest of your life
for a mistake you made as a child 70% of
young people that are detained are
detained for for technical violations
which includes breaking probation rules
instead of committing new crimes 70%
also applies to the number of kids who
are youth of
I remember when I was a young man I
watched all of my friends were landed
and placed on probation and then when I
turned 16 I landed on probation I landed
on probation and it wouldn’t be until
much later that I understood how the
prison industrial complex works and it
didn’t work well for Demetrius as
prisons are like a revolving door a
revolving door it is it is it is
something that they just can not escape
so two years later after Demetrius was
released I heard from him again he wrote
me a letter
he was now 19 however next to his name
on the envelope was the initials do C
Department of Corrections number four
five seven six two three in the letter
he explained to me that he was really
for a probation violation smoking weed
and he had been using marijuana
consistently to cope with his mother’s
death from cancer just six months prior
and because of probation he couldn’t
find a job he couldn’t complete high
school as he struggled to do that and he
even stopped writing poetry
perhaps if there were tangible
opportunities for Demetrius after he was
released there may have been a better
outcome so here’s what’s important for
you to know about incarcerated kids in
America the national average costs to
incarcerate a young person in America is
a hundred and fifty eight thousand
dollars in Los Angeles County it cost
taxpayers two hundred and four
forty-seven thousand dollars per year to
incarcerate a child folks four years at
Harvard including room and board cost
less than two hundred and forty two
thousand dollars now perhaps and just
think about what if we put that kind of
money and that kind of attention into
Demetrios for jobs and for education
don’t you think we would have had a
different outcome just know this once
these young people have been released
and they turn adults they do not have
the tools to survive in the real world
and most of them most of the kids I work
with tell me that they think they’ll be
dead by the age of 25 and sometimes it’s
true
but there is a better way it is clear
here that juvenile incarceration doesn’t
work and is very costly for US taxpayers
so I want you now to imagine what if we
reconsidered the whole juvenile
detention center in our communities and
we converted them into beautiful
voluntary residential career training
centers with personal development with
the assurance that once these young men
turn 18 they do not become a statistic
like Demetrius well I’m excited to share
with you folks that in Los Angeles
because I believe and I believe for
every dark cloud there is a silver
lining now do you remember that
detention detention facility I just
talked about earlier where Demetrius and
I met back 14 years ago
well my organization newerth in the Los
Angeles County Probation Department is
preparing to embark upon a new unique
program to convert that detention
facility into a beautiful open campus
voluntary residential career education
and arts training center for those who
would otherwise be on track to adult
incarceration and once they get their
certifications in their career track
they will be placed into high yielding
careers matched with employers even
before they step off the property
so some of our partners include the Los
Angeles County Board of Supervisors
County Department’s community based
organizations and also Pro also
philanthropic foundations and we’re all
coming together to repurpose a jail into
a college first time ever done in
all right that’s it no I’ll go home now
[Applause]
so when I said earlier beautifully
convert I wasn’t joking around I wasn’t
playing we are right now in the process
and we have the initial startup funding
to begin to do construction at that
facility so I’m going to show you a
couple of photos of how we’re gonna take
metal and brown and in concrete and
cinderblock and turn it into what I
think would look more like a boutique
hotel so this is a before picture this
picture here is the dining hall
currently at Camp Gonzalez concrete
floors metal tables very cold
a lot of edged up windows would hardly
any light coming in and then this is
what we’re gonna turn it into so thank
you looks like something you got
somewhere you guys want to go to eat
tonight right so this is this is this is
the the solitary confinement rec rooms
right here at Gonzalez and this is what
it looked like before this is where they
would control and oversee the activities
going on that room we’re gonna keep it
as a rec space we’re also gonna add a
music studio to this building but this
is what it will look like in just six
months
so it’s an after photo and last but not
least you know these kids have to sleep
on cold metal every single night and
open showers open toilets no doors
anywhere completely degrading so when we
thought of we’re gonna close this we’re
gonna give them individual rooms just
like we all most of us had in our dorm
rooms back in college and we’re going to
beautifully convert that so we’re going
to turn it into this so completely
so we’re aware that that control center
was in the middle of that room now
become now a kitchenette and these walls
actually go up all the way I just kind
of lower at the wall for this render so
you can see what’s inside that room but
there’ll be a bed a desk a closet and
also a dresser for each individual
that’ll be participating in our
voluntary residential program it needs
to be young people that are currently
involved in a system that need to get
out of the system and this is what this
place is for so this is a community
operated program not a prison this is a
Center for transformation not
incarceration this is a place where hope
is created not belated so let’s remember
that incarcerated children they’re still
children and let’s make sure that we
keep our kids out of jail and alive past
25 because opportunities are better than eulogies thank you
my first teaching experience was trying
to teach poetry to four boys at a youth
detention facility under the blaring
buzz of fluorescent lights the prompt I
gave was right about the first time you
realized you loved your mother there was
this kid in the back named Demetrius
slouching
I mean nearly horizontally and this cold
beige plastic plastic chair completely
etched and gang tagging and suddenly he
sits up within seconds his pencil began
scribbling out these poetic stanzas and
I sat there thinking to myself this is
moments later they lift their heads from
the page and one kid says I want to
remind I want to remind okay Demetrius
please read after he’d finished asked
him to explain to the group what he
wrote well when I was 12 years old my
mama took us to Toys R Us for Christmas
presents we’re walking up and down every
aisle but mama wasn’t putting anything
in the cart about 30 minutes later we
leave the store and me and my brother
sit to a mat because mama didn’t buy
anything but but when we got back to the
car mama pulled all these toys from
underneath her jacket
and in that moment I knew I love my mama
[Applause]
because she risked getting arrested for
interesting what do you mean by
interesting interesting well I mean it
sounds like you equate stealing with
love Demetrius can I ask you what are
you in here for man like what are you
locked up for shoplifting in that moment
14 years ago I was fulfilling a crazy
vision that I had to teach poetry to
juvenile detention offenders in Los
Angeles now the crazy part was that I
wasn’t it wasn’t about going into jail
and working with gang members because as
a team I spent five years on juvenile
probation but the crazy part is that I
had the audacity to think that something
so out of the box like poetry would help
I remember my first trip to Camp
Gonzales youth detention facility and I
was walking up the sidewalk towards the
entrance when the van pulled up very
curious about who I’d be teaching poetry
to I lagged my steps just a little bit
to get a glimpse of the new arrivals
check them out and expecting to see
these hardened criminals with gang
tattoos and ball heads I was sadly
mistaken I the vehicle step six young
men in orange jumpsuits each with the
full head of hair and looking so young
each standing no taller than my chin as
they wobbled past me with shackles on
their feet and cuffs on their wrists
the oldest in that group was 17 and in
that moment I realized that they were
only children and we’re losing them an
alarming rate jail is not the answer
there is a better way for kids stuck in
the justice system to transform their
lives when those kids walk by me I
thought to myself there’s something
extraordinary wrong with this picture
here why do they look so different than
they’re portrayed on the news the public
has this perception of incarcerated
youth that is so false as I just
witnessed these scare children pumping
up their chests to look fearless and
since that day I’ve worked with
thousands of incarcerated kids and I can
tell you right now that they’re just
that kids kids the United States
incarcerate more children than any other
developed country in the world we are 4%
of the world’s population but we house
22% of the world’s prisoners
incarcerated kids only have about a 30
percent chance to not become an
incarcerated adult now what you’d
imagine what would it be like if you
were judged for the rest of your life
for a mistake you made as a child 70% of
young people that are detained are
detained for for technical violations
which includes breaking probation rules
instead of committing new crimes 70%
also applies to the number of kids who
are youth of
I remember when I was a young man I
watched all of my friends were landed
and placed on probation and then when I
turned 16 I landed on probation I landed
on probation and it wouldn’t be until
much later that I understood how the
prison industrial complex works and it
didn’t work well for Demetrius as
prisons are like a revolving door a
revolving door it is it is it is
something that they just can not escape
so two years later after Demetrius was
released I heard from him again he wrote
me a letter
he was now 19 however next to his name
on the envelope was the initials do C
Department of Corrections number four
five seven six two three in the letter
he explained to me that he was really
for a probation violation smoking weed
and he had been using marijuana
consistently to cope with his mother’s
death from cancer just six months prior
and because of probation he couldn’t
find a job he couldn’t complete high
school as he struggled to do that and he
even stopped writing poetry
perhaps if there were tangible
opportunities for Demetrius after he was
released there may have been a better
outcome so here’s what’s important for
you to know about incarcerated kids in
America the national average costs to
incarcerate a young person in America is
a hundred and fifty eight thousand
dollars in Los Angeles County it cost
taxpayers two hundred and four
forty-seven thousand dollars per year to
incarcerate a child folks four years at
Harvard including room and board cost
less than two hundred and forty two
thousand dollars now perhaps and just
think about what if we put that kind of
money and that kind of attention into
Demetrios for jobs and for education
don’t you think we would have had a
different outcome just know this once
these young people have been released
and they turn adults they do not have
the tools to survive in the real world
and most of them most of the kids I work
with tell me that they think they’ll be
dead by the age of 25 and sometimes it’s
true
but there is a better way it is clear
here that juvenile incarceration doesn’t
work and is very costly for US taxpayers
so I want you now to imagine what if we
reconsidered the whole juvenile
detention center in our communities and
we converted them into beautiful
voluntary residential career training
centers with personal development with
the assurance that once these young men
turn 18 they do not become a statistic
like Demetrius well I’m excited to share
with you folks that in Los Angeles
because I believe and I believe for
every dark cloud there is a silver
lining now do you remember that
detention detention facility I just
talked about earlier where Demetrius and
I met back 14 years ago
well my organization newerth in the Los
Angeles County Probation Department is
preparing to embark upon a new unique
program to convert that detention
facility into a beautiful open campus
voluntary residential career education
and arts training center for those who
would otherwise be on track to adult
incarceration and once they get their
certifications in their career track
they will be placed into high yielding
careers matched with employers even
before they step off the property
so some of our partners include the Los
Angeles County Board of Supervisors
County Department’s community based
organizations and also Pro also
philanthropic foundations and we’re all
coming together to repurpose a jail into
a college first time ever done in
all right that’s it no I’ll go home now
[Applause]
so when I said earlier beautifully
convert I wasn’t joking around I wasn’t
playing we are right now in the process
and we have the initial startup funding
to begin to do construction at that
facility so I’m going to show you a
couple of photos of how we’re gonna take
metal and brown and in concrete and
cinderblock and turn it into what I
think would look more like a boutique
hotel so this is a before picture this
picture here is the dining hall
currently at Camp Gonzalez concrete
floors metal tables very cold
a lot of edged up windows would hardly
any light coming in and then this is
what we’re gonna turn it into so thank
you looks like something you got
somewhere you guys want to go to eat
tonight right so this is this is this is
the the solitary confinement rec rooms
right here at Gonzalez and this is what
it looked like before this is where they
would control and oversee the activities
going on that room we’re gonna keep it
as a rec space we’re also gonna add a
music studio to this building but this
is what it will look like in just six
months
so it’s an after photo and last but not
least you know these kids have to sleep
on cold metal every single night and
open showers open toilets no doors
anywhere completely degrading so when we
thought of we’re gonna close this we’re
gonna give them individual rooms just
like we all most of us had in our dorm
rooms back in college and we’re going to
beautifully convert that so we’re going
to turn it into this so completely
so we’re aware that that control center
was in the middle of that room now
become now a kitchenette and these walls
actually go up all the way I just kind
of lower at the wall for this render so
you can see what’s inside that room but
there’ll be a bed a desk a closet and
also a dresser for each individual
that’ll be participating in our
voluntary residential program it needs
to be young people that are currently
involved in a system that need to get
out of the system and this is what this
place is for so this is a community
operated program not a prison this is a
Center for transformation not
incarceration this is a place where hope
is created not belated so let’s remember
that incarcerated children they’re still
children and let’s make sure that we
keep our kids out of jail and alive past
25 because opportunities are better than eulogies thank you
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