Thursday, April 18, 1996
Prison Coalition participants contrast life on the ‘outside’By
Susan Lee
Daily Bruin Contributor
In their blue jeans, t-shirts and pale blue jumpers, they looked
like a normal tour group grazing UCLA’s grounds. But unlike other
tour groups, most of these youths cannot come back the next day to
visit  and simply being on campus is a privilege.
"It feels so good to be outside, not behind those walls," said
Felicia, a young woman from Kirby. "We don’t get out much."
Welcomed by seven staff members from Prison Coalition, nine
young men and 11 young women from three different juvenile
detention camps  Kirby Center, Camp Kilpatrick and Camp
Miller  took a field trip to UCLA Wednesday. They toured the
campus, visited the community programs office and attended a
workshop on Prop. 184, California’s "three-strikes-and-you’re-out"
law.
Although the Prison Coalition has existed for 27 years, Will
Beshears, the education director for the Prison Coalition for the
past two years, explained that the name belies the scope of the
organization.
"The philosophy of the Prison Coalition is to provide literacy
through ethnic- and gender-focused curriculum for incarcerated
youth around the Los Angeles area, as well as tutoring services,"
Beshears said. "We want to expose them to historically deleted
information that they haven’t been exposed to in order to fill in
on the gaps and failures of school."
Once a week, UCLA students participating in the Prison Coalition
are are brought to a camp for four hours of one-on-one tutoring.
Orientation for tutoring occurs during second week, and tutors
commit to at least one quarter of service.
The one-on-one tutoring establishes a bond for mutual respect,
said Beshears, who has tutored since his freshman year. He added
that most of the youths have lived under circumstances most
students can’t comprehend.
"Traditionally, kids are let down by authority figures that they
are exposed to, such as police, teachers and parents, and the
tutors come in as friends looking to learn from each other,"
Beshears said. "It’s important to establish a relationship where
respect plays a role. Through it they listen and learn what the
UCLA students teach them."
Felicia, a young woman from Kirby Center, commented that talking
and forming a friendship with an individual from outside the camp
constituted the best part of her experience with the Prison
Coalition. Once her tutor found out that she loved poems, for
instance, they would read a poem per session together.
"Sometimes, you just need someone to talk to about little things
going on," Felicia explained. "My tutor told me to write to her,
but we’re not allowed to have addresses; they’re put into our file
until we get out and then we can write to them. I really wanted to
see her today to let her know I’m not a flake, but …"
Wednesday’s workshop on the three-strikes law, led by Jimmie
White, a counseling attorney at UCLA, drew spirited discussion from
both groups.
White stressed education as a key to rising to the challenges
set up by society.
"If you have three felonies, the judge has no choice but to bust
and convict you for life," White said. "You know what you did, just
don’t go out and do it again. You have to learn to get out there
and beat society at its own game."
"You gotta find a legitimate hustle," White said. "The
government is scared of you guys because you have so much power but
you just don’t realize it. You have to work harder for that to be
recognized, and you become stronger for the experience."
Beshears agreed that society tends to neglect and blame "that
portion of the population."
"I see them as the key to change because they know the worst
that we have to offer," Beshears said. "They just need the tools to
do something because they have the best opportunity to change
America to a more positive path.
However, some of the youths voiced their opposition to the
law.
"I know people out there who got to jack you up in order to
survive because the county won’t give them a job, said Carrie, one
of the visiting youths. "They got to do what they’re doing."
Tubbs, a dorm coordinator at Camp Kilpatrick, also believes that
the three-strikes law is unfair to a large part of society.
"That’s the way the system and government want it since it
affects mostly minorities," Tubbs said. "They need to clarify or
restructure the law. Right now, our system is just warehousing the
kids."
Life at a juvenile-detention camp has forced many of the youths
to appreciate things they once took for granted. Amy, a ward at
Kirby Center, said that although she would be out soon, she would
come back to Kirby in order to remind herself that her freedom can
be taken away from her.
The weight of being in "the place" is heavy and a constant
reminder of life’s harsh realities, many of the youths said.
Sitting quietly on the grass, Sarah stared at the rush of students
near Taco Bell. When she gets out, she looks forward to her
freshman year in high school  a new start.
Although she looks forward to living in a new city removed from
the gang she once knew in Long Beach, this is her sixth time in
juvenile detention since she was twelve. Even though she is
hopeful, she reflected on her past, giving advice to other girls
who may start to stray down the same path.
"Stay away from drugs and gangs. Once you get in, it’s hard to
get out. That’s the only reason I’m in here now, and I’m still
trying to get out," Sarah said. "It’s really hard. I’m scared I’m
going to mess up again and I don’t want to. I want to do good."
And for many of the incarcerated youth who work with the Prison
Coalition, acquiring an education has become a key component to
their future success.
For Rodriguez, a youth from Camp Kilpatrick, education was
elusive until he met his UCLA tutor.
"I didn’t (go) to school for two years straight until I got
here, but then I found I like learning. I’ve learned a lot at
Kilpatrick," Rodriguez said.
"I used to take my freedom for granted and think the world owed
things to me," Amy said. "I never thought I’d have to work at
earning it."
"Sometimes it’s frustrating to live at Kirby," Amy continued.
"Just imagine living with ten different girls in one cottage with
ten different attitudes and ten different PMS times. And then
there’s the blood and gang issue. It’s amazing that we get along,
because you’d think there’d be a civil war or something. But I’ve
learned a lot of things."
As a young man or woman in a juvenile detention camp, not only
are rules more strict, but everything has to be earned, including
pride and respect. A vivid experience which stands out in Kirby
resident Shaniqua’s mind is when she was taken to USC.
"It was so humiliating, all those cute boys thinking ‘Well,
gosh, isn’t she cute  what’s she doing cleaning the buses?"
said Shaniqua. "It’s also hard because you can’t say anything to
them."
"I can’t wait until I go home. I’m just afraid I’m going to
backslide because it’s so easy," Shaniqua continued. "But I’ve
learned my lesson. I’ve been locked up away from my family for four
months and I miss my brothers and sisters dearly."
As a result of their incarceration, many of the youths said they
have also realized the importance of strong family relationships,
as well as a strong belief in themselves.
"You need to be out there for yourself; you don’t want to go
down," Emily said. "I just realized how much (my siblings) look up
to me, and I wish I set a better example. I never saw how much my
family loved me."
While the youths attend school each day at their camp, Amanda
said classes were more like babysitting because the classwork was
like busywork.
"There’s a new art program at Kirby for cultural things, which
is much better. Like we make masks, and they tell us to put our
emotions and our future in it and then they’re going to display it
in museums," Amanda said. "It’s better, but still …"
Although many of the youths said they have realized the value of
education, they have also come to see that walking the straight and
narrow will be harder the second time around.
"Now that I see the real thing, I’m going to get a diploma, go
to junior college," said Javier. "The hardest thing is to try and
survive, because you come up against lots of things. We’re lucky
because we have opportunity to get out and become a better person.
We’ve got to get out off the hook that the system has us in."
By realizing that the system is offering them a second chance,
many of the youths are taking the first step toward
self-empowerment.
"I’m willing to put in my part, and I’ve learned that there’s
lots of other things you can do without getting yourself in trouble
to make yourself happy," said José, another of the visitors.
"We need to bring up our race in any way, especially if we know
what’s the problem with it."
Meanwhile, a tall youth in a tan jacket named McComb stood aside
from the group, contemplating which colleges he plans to attend now
that he is about to be released.
"It just hit me in the face one day," McComb said. "I’ve almost
done two years back to back. It ain’t worth it."