LGBT/Queer Youth and the Prison Industrial Complex
There are multiple new reports and national attention coming to the impact of incarceration on LGBT/queer young people. The following are a number of different pieces worth checking out, some of them better and more radical than others. It’s essential to educate ourselves about the violence of this system and the work that needs to be done to abolish it. As we move forward toward abolition we also must stand with people in their survival strategies to reduce the amount of harm they are experiencing.
*** This video was sparked by an article in The Nation written by Daniel Redman, “I Was Scared to Sleep: LGBT Youth Face Violence Behind Bars” available HERE
More GRITtv
*** Wes Ware, a friend and brilliant organizer at the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, released a report about LGBT young people in the Louisiana Juvenile System. You can read the entire report below or a summary of the report HERE
Locked Up Out
*** It is also important to learn some of the history about movements to fight the violence of these systems. There are multiple books and resources available for further education. I have been particularly struck by Jerome Miller’s, Last One Over the Wall: Massachusetts Experiment in Closing Reform Schools According to the book jacket, “Last One over the Wall is an analytical and autobiographical account of Jerome G. Miller’s tenure as head of the Massachusetts juvenile justice system, during which he undertook one of the most daring and drastic steps in recent juvenile justice history - he closed reformatories and returned juvenile offenders to community supervision and treatment by private schools and youth agencies. Filled with insights into juvenile and adult behavior in prison and outside, Miller’s account provides a rare opportunity to view our juvenile justice system as a whole, including all the politics, economics, and social biases that come with it.” You can find the book at Powells HERE
Source: blackandpink.org
*** This video was sparked by an article in The Nation written by Daniel Redman, “I Was Scared to Sleep: LGBT Youth Face Violence Behind Bars” available HERE
More GRITtv
*** Wes Ware, a friend and brilliant organizer at the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, released a report about LGBT young people in the Louisiana Juvenile System. You can read the entire report below or a summary of the report HERE
Locked Up Out
*** It is also important to learn some of the history about movements to fight the violence of these systems. There are multiple books and resources available for further education. I have been particularly struck by Jerome Miller’s, Last One Over the Wall: Massachusetts Experiment in Closing Reform Schools According to the book jacket, “Last One over the Wall is an analytical and autobiographical account of Jerome G. Miller’s tenure as head of the Massachusetts juvenile justice system, during which he undertook one of the most daring and drastic steps in recent juvenile justice history - he closed reformatories and returned juvenile offenders to community supervision and treatment by private schools and youth agencies. Filled with insights into juvenile and adult behavior in prison and outside, Miller’s account provides a rare opportunity to view our juvenile justice system as a whole, including all the politics, economics, and social biases that come with it.” You can find the book at Powells HERE
Source: blackandpink.org