Texas Tribune / Sergio Flores
Members of the Finish the 5 Coalition march to the Texas State Capitol on January 10, 2023. A youth-led group has come together to advocate for the closure of a youth prison in Texas.
A group of teenagers gathered outside the State Capitol last week, full of adrenaline, determination, and wide-eyed optimism, ready to take their first steps behind Texas politics.
Most were under the iconic pink dome just for a school field trip. I was eager to take on the role of An Ongoing Crisis Inside State Youth Prisons.
last year, Texas Tribune reported On the severe understaffing of prisons, where children were routinely left in solitary confinement for up to 23 hours a day, Force use of water bottles Food tray as a toilet. Nearly half of her nearly 600 children in prison were on suicide watch.
In response, teens in the Austin area teamed up with a local criminal justice reform group to create a new advocacy campaign. A youth-led coalition, dubbed Finish the 5, plans to spend the next five months in the state capitol and is lobbying lawmakers to close her five remaining juvenile prisons in Texas. increase.
“If we young people don’t stand in solidarity with our fellow youth experiencing violence at the hands of the state, who will stand for them?” , shouted into the microphone at the South Gate of the Capitol last Tuesday.
Texas Juvenile Justice Department prisons have been the scene of repeated sexual, physical and other abuse scandals for decades.
After the 2007 sexual abuse scandal, the agency was rebranded and reorganized to integrate with the local juvenile justice system. A new focus aimed at keeping troubled children closer to home under county supervision is primarily probation or diversion programs. Following policy changes and fewer juvenile arrests, far fewer children were sent to state prisons, and the number of juvenile prisons decreased from 13, mainly in rural areas, to 5 remaining.
But state officials have so far dismissed the idea of further closures. This is because the hundreds of young people still in detention are often the most difficult to manage and care for, often due to violent behavior and/or serious mental health needs.
Led by the Texas Center for Justice and Equity, a youth and social justice advocacy group, the Finish the 5 campaign proposes phasing out five prisons by 2027. , also implement better interventions and preventative programming to keep children out of the cell in the first place.
Texas Tribune / Sergio Flores
On the first day of the Legislative Council, members of the Finish the 5 Coalition move into the legislators’ offices.
Closing all juvenile prisons would be a dramatic change, but young activists believe the dire situation will push for substantive reform, much like what happened after the 2007 scandal. This year, the TJJD has received particular attention for major changes as it undergoes its decennial review to determine whether and how lawmakers will continue in its existence. increase.
So far, the response of government agencies to the crisis has mainly been: give an emergency pay raise and seek more payroll funding to help attract new employees and retain some of the fleeing workforce.
Texas Tribune / Sergio Flores
Activists armed themselves with policy briefs for distribution to interested passers-by and legislative aides.
During a raucous opening ceremony at the Capitol, young activists chant into megaphones, hand out leaflets to curious passers-by, and nervously pitch their campaigns as they pack into lawmakers’ offices. Debate Kumar, a participant in his camp, addressed the microphone with confidence, addressing passing party members with ease.
“I’m 16. No, I just turned 17,” laughs Mya Leger, her long thin braids hanging down her back. Raised in her public housing, Léger joined the Union after seeing many of her peers die or go to prison. She said low-income children aren’t given many other options.
Teenagers repeated similar sentiments, with their voices either trembling or steady. Confidence that real change can be made in this area, even if we don’t get everything we want.
“I’m honestly very nervous, but very excited,” said Amani Ahmad, an 18-year-old college freshman, nervous about lobbying lawmakers and testifying at upcoming committee hearings. Told.
“We really feel like we have a path to the people in charge. We feel that’s a lot more powerful than organizing from the outside,” she added, adding that other social justice purposes I participated in a protest with Kumar because of this.
Elle Johnson, whose father was in a juvenile prison in Texas and was recently sent to the adult prison system, echoed that thought.
Texas Tribune / Sergio Flores
Teens who hadn’t secured seats in the House Gallery on the first day of Congress gathered in the committee room to watch the session begin.
“I’m relieved even if the store doesn’t close. [the prisons],change. That’s enough for now,” said the 18-year-old boy.
Wearing a campaign T-shirt and braids, Johnson said he joined the movement to break the cycle of imprisonment for himself and his four-year-old brother. Men of color and people of color in general. ”
“Knowing that I could help build a system that would take care of him instead of punishing him was really motivating,” she said.
Texas Tribune / Sergio Flores
Elle Johnson shares her experiences with the criminal justice system in the outdoor rotunda of the Texas State Capitol.
Other young people with no personal ties to the criminal justice system, including 17-year-old Eden Simanek, also joined the fight Tuesday.In high school, she became interested in social justice after watching crime shows with her mother and wanted to work for the Innocence Project after college.
“Two years ago, I didn’t even know organizations like the Austin Liberation Youth Movement and the TCJE existed, and I didn’t even know there were five youth prisons in Texas.” After recognizing , I sat down to do some research and fell in love with the movement, from the fact that children my age had no sunlight for 23 hours in their cells, or that they needed a bottle of water or a bottle of water to go to the bathroom. I couldn’t deal with the fact that it was a kid my age using food trays.”
No bill has yet been introduced to close juvenile prisons, but the Finish the 5 campaign is in talks with Democratic legislators. James Tallarico When Jarvis JohnsonAccording to Alycia Castillo, policy and advocacy director at the TCJE, Tallarico said a bill would be introduced, but details have yet to be decided.
Young people are focused. After their first day on the Capitol, they plan to continue their behind-the-scenes discussions with lawmakers and other stakeholders, as well as publicly testify when relevant bills are introduced before the legislative committee.
Johnson’s positivity radiated from her as she walked into the Capitol on Tuesday. I felt that I was able to encourage them to be at the forefront of government.
Texas Tribune / Sergio Flores
Walked into Rep. James Tallarico’s office to make the first pitch to close the youth prison.
“When I was here for a school trip, there was actually a protest going on outside,” she said. “I didn’t know you could do that.
She hoped that children could see her in her advocacy work and create similar experiences for them.
“It triggers a thought process that’s like, ‘Wow, we like it and we can change things,'” she said. “Especially because we’re like them.”
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