Dear Pamela,
In May 2020, Molly was faced with a decision no mother should have to make: take a plea deal on her 15-year-old son's behalf, which would send him to juvenile detention for two years, or risk having him tried as an adult, where he could face a sentence of 15 to 55 years in prison.
"My back was against the wall . . . . I'm a single mom. I had no money for a lawyer," Molly recounts. "I sat him down in the courtroom that day and said, 'This is what I gotta do. I have to save your life. You have to go into custody.'"
Molly chose what seemed impossible in order to protect her son.
Molly hoped to get her son the care he needed—healing, counseling, and anger management. Instead, he was deprived of services while he was in Louisiana state custody. He did not have access to school or mental health treatment, and—for the first six months of his confinement—he was let out of his cell for just 15 minutes a day.
Read about how the juvenile justice system has failed Molly's son—and thousands of other children like him. |
At his first facility, Molly's son was once left to sleep on the floor of a flooded cell and was told to drink from the toilet when he asked for water. Read Molly's story and learn how she and other parents have been fighting to keep Louisiana's kids out of incarcerated settings.
When Vera spoke with her, Molly's son had not been granted a home pass—an authorized family visit away from the detention center—throughout roughly three years of incarceration. Like many of the more than 25,000 young people detained in juvenile facilities across the country, he faced cruel and inhumane living conditions.
These experiences reflect the perpetual problems of a legal system that puts punishment before people. And regardless of the specifics of the facility or the circumstances, incarceration doesn't help young people.
Incarcerating young people damages their physical and mental health, impedes their educational and career success, and often exposes them to abuse.
Does that seem right to you, Pamela?
Vera is fighting to keep young people out of the justice system. We are researching, piloting, and scaling solutions that refocus and redistribute funds away from incarceration and toward community-based resources.
Together, we can keep young people out of detention and ensure they receive a fair chance to succeed.
In solidarity,
Vera Institute of Justice |
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