Chapter 4
Hello readers! Welcome back to my blog! Today I will be discussing how Chapter 4 relates to current events in our society.
Chapter 4, titled Learning on Lockdown, discusses on how black girls learn in juvenile detention centers. Monique Morris argues that these detention centers fail to prioritize education and instead focus on "...discipline, uninspired teaching, and a [simple] curriculum..." (146). The detention centers teach one curriculum to all of the girls, regardless of their age, grade, or level of intelligence. A juvenile named Mia talks about one of the results of this inferior educational system, narrating how she was kicked out of class for asking the teacher for something to do after finishing all of her work (148). Morris includes many different variations of this story, situations where the teacher gets annoyed at the students for simply asking a question. In the prior example Mia was asked to leave the classroom after she asked for something else to do. Girls of all different learning levels are grouped together to learn the same things in these detention centers. This seems like a good idea at first, as having all the girls together learning the same things means less teachers and cheaper detention centers, but some girls learn faster and some girls might need some extra help. These faulty detention systems fail to provide a proper education for these girls. Girls also fail to achieve credits in juvenile schools, resulting in them falling behind once they transition back to regular schools. One juvenile inmate, Deja, reported that "'...every fifteen days, you only get one credit'" (160). For me, this sounds like a lot, as my school is structured so that eight credits is the maximum a student can receive each year. However, one of the girls, Portia, that Morris interviewed said "'one, two, or five credits ... don't really do nothing'" (151). This lead me to believe that in the schools that these girls attended prior to the juvenile detention school required a lot more than eight credits a year. I assume this based on the use of only in Deja's narrative when discussing one credit and Portia referring to a couple credits as insubstantial. This chapter really drew attention to the unacceptable education that black girls receive in correctional facilities.
Before reading this chapter I had not realized how prominent the issue of unsatisfactory education in prison and juvenile centers was. However, after reading this chapter I researched current events that related to the topic and I discovered that juveniles receiving mental health services in prisons is a much bigger issue than I previously thought. As Morris points out in Pushout, "...81% of girls in the juvenile justice system suffer from a mental health disorder" (152). This is true in the world today, so detention centers should be focusing more on helping these girls through therapy and education rather than through discipline. Many of these youths do not get the help they need; we can see this at the Dermott Juvenile Correctional Facility in Arkansas. Staff members at Dermott "...were ordered to limit how many youths they classified as students with special education needs" ("Youth Miss Out"). This is atrocious, as it both violates the law and results in many inmates not receiving the therapy they need.
The point of these correctional facilities is to rehabilitate troubled young girls, but we can see by Morris' argument and the article "Youth Miss Out on School" that these facilities are failing to rehabilitate delinquent youth and are failing to provide adequate services for mentally-disabled inmates. In some cases when mental health services are not provided, the results can be fatal. An example of this is the recent suicides of two young boys at a juvenile detention center in Louisiana. These suicides are almost entirely the fault of the detention center. The staff failed to check on the boys within the time constraint; all of the inmates are supposed to be checked on every fifteen minutes. The mental health evaluations on one of these boys was also delayed, possibly past the 72-hour period ("KSLA Investigates"). When inmates arrive at the Ware Youth Center they are supposed to receive "'...a mental health assessment performed by a qualified mental health professional within 72 hours...'" ("KSLA Investigates"). It was never confirmed if one of the boys received a mental health assessment, something that should have been recorded by the detention center. This is a real-life example proving that if a juvenile with a mental disorder does not receive proper medical care, there could be potentially fatal consequences. The center also "...delayed mental health evaluations for 15 of the 29 files reviewed" ("KSLA Investigates"). This is not okay, two boys died because of insufficient care. Juvenile correctional facilities need to focus on getting youths the therapy they need, and that starts with correctly evaluating them.
Morris also hints at a couple of suggestions on how to fix this issue. She did not go into a great amount of detail on her solution in this chapter, as she stated she was going to explain how to change the detention centers in Chapter 5. However, she did express that correctional facilities "...should be serving as an important rehabilitative structure for detained girls" (167). This sentiment was agreed upon by many advocates for improved education in detention centers. One detention center added programs "...including group and individual therapy sessions, foster dog training, mural painting and gardening projects" to focus more on rehabilitation rather than on discipline ("Youth Miss Out"). These programs need to be instituted at all juvenile detention centers to rehabilitate black girls and get them on a path to success.
To conclude, this chapter has been my favorite so far. I think that Morris' argument is very well thought out and there are not any gaping holes in her argument. This chapter is also interesting because Morris makes a general argument that could be applied to all inmates, rather than just black girls. I can not help but agree that the education administered to youths in correctional facilities needs to be improved. Morris effectively proves that correctional facilities are not providing a good education or acceptable rehabilitation services. The educational programs do not matter that much in adult prisons, but the black girls Morris interviews have their whole lives ahead of them. The educational system in juvenile detention centers needs to be improved or most of the black girls Morris interviewed will end up uneducated, or possibly incarcerated.
Chapter 4, titled Learning on Lockdown, discusses on how black girls learn in juvenile detention centers. Monique Morris argues that these detention centers fail to prioritize education and instead focus on "...discipline, uninspired teaching, and a [simple] curriculum..." (146). The detention centers teach one curriculum to all of the girls, regardless of their age, grade, or level of intelligence. A juvenile named Mia talks about one of the results of this inferior educational system, narrating how she was kicked out of class for asking the teacher for something to do after finishing all of her work (148). Morris includes many different variations of this story, situations where the teacher gets annoyed at the students for simply asking a question. In the prior example Mia was asked to leave the classroom after she asked for something else to do. Girls of all different learning levels are grouped together to learn the same things in these detention centers. This seems like a good idea at first, as having all the girls together learning the same things means less teachers and cheaper detention centers, but some girls learn faster and some girls might need some extra help. These faulty detention systems fail to provide a proper education for these girls. Girls also fail to achieve credits in juvenile schools, resulting in them falling behind once they transition back to regular schools. One juvenile inmate, Deja, reported that "'...every fifteen days, you only get one credit'" (160). For me, this sounds like a lot, as my school is structured so that eight credits is the maximum a student can receive each year. However, one of the girls, Portia, that Morris interviewed said "'one, two, or five credits ... don't really do nothing'" (151). This lead me to believe that in the schools that these girls attended prior to the juvenile detention school required a lot more than eight credits a year. I assume this based on the use of only in Deja's narrative when discussing one credit and Portia referring to a couple credits as insubstantial. This chapter really drew attention to the unacceptable education that black girls receive in correctional facilities.
Before reading this chapter I had not realized how prominent the issue of unsatisfactory education in prison and juvenile centers was. However, after reading this chapter I researched current events that related to the topic and I discovered that juveniles receiving mental health services in prisons is a much bigger issue than I previously thought. As Morris points out in Pushout, "...81% of girls in the juvenile justice system suffer from a mental health disorder" (152). This is true in the world today, so detention centers should be focusing more on helping these girls through therapy and education rather than through discipline. Many of these youths do not get the help they need; we can see this at the Dermott Juvenile Correctional Facility in Arkansas. Staff members at Dermott "...were ordered to limit how many youths they classified as students with special education needs" ("Youth Miss Out"). This is atrocious, as it both violates the law and results in many inmates not receiving the therapy they need.
"Dermott Juvenile Correctional Facility"
The point of these correctional facilities is to rehabilitate troubled young girls, but we can see by Morris' argument and the article "Youth Miss Out on School" that these facilities are failing to rehabilitate delinquent youth and are failing to provide adequate services for mentally-disabled inmates. In some cases when mental health services are not provided, the results can be fatal. An example of this is the recent suicides of two young boys at a juvenile detention center in Louisiana. These suicides are almost entirely the fault of the detention center. The staff failed to check on the boys within the time constraint; all of the inmates are supposed to be checked on every fifteen minutes. The mental health evaluations on one of these boys was also delayed, possibly past the 72-hour period ("KSLA Investigates"). When inmates arrive at the Ware Youth Center they are supposed to receive "'...a mental health assessment performed by a qualified mental health professional within 72 hours...'" ("KSLA Investigates"). It was never confirmed if one of the boys received a mental health assessment, something that should have been recorded by the detention center. This is a real-life example proving that if a juvenile with a mental disorder does not receive proper medical care, there could be potentially fatal consequences. The center also "...delayed mental health evaluations for 15 of the 29 files reviewed" ("KSLA Investigates"). This is not okay, two boys died because of insufficient care. Juvenile correctional facilities need to focus on getting youths the therapy they need, and that starts with correctly evaluating them.
Morris also hints at a couple of suggestions on how to fix this issue. She did not go into a great amount of detail on her solution in this chapter, as she stated she was going to explain how to change the detention centers in Chapter 5. However, she did express that correctional facilities "...should be serving as an important rehabilitative structure for detained girls" (167). This sentiment was agreed upon by many advocates for improved education in detention centers. One detention center added programs "...including group and individual therapy sessions, foster dog training, mural painting and gardening projects" to focus more on rehabilitation rather than on discipline ("Youth Miss Out"). These programs need to be instituted at all juvenile detention centers to rehabilitate black girls and get them on a path to success.
To conclude, this chapter has been my favorite so far. I think that Morris' argument is very well thought out and there are not any gaping holes in her argument. This chapter is also interesting because Morris makes a general argument that could be applied to all inmates, rather than just black girls. I can not help but agree that the education administered to youths in correctional facilities needs to be improved. Morris effectively proves that correctional facilities are not providing a good education or acceptable rehabilitation services. The educational programs do not matter that much in adult prisons, but the black girls Morris interviews have their whole lives ahead of them. The educational system in juvenile detention centers needs to be improved or most of the black girls Morris interviewed will end up uneducated, or possibly incarcerated.
Works Cited
“Dermott Juvenile Correctional Facility.” Humanservices.arkansas.gov, humanservices.arkansas.gov/images/uploads/dys/dermott.jpg.
Morris, Monique W. Pushout: the Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools. New Press, 2018.
Piekos, Christian. “KSLA Investigates: State Finds Numerous Violations at Youth Detention Center Following Suicides.” Www.ksla.com, 7 Mar. 2019, www.ksla.com/2019/03/07/ksla-investigates-state-finds-numerous-violations-youth-detention-center-following-suicides-4/.
“Youth Miss Out on School, Mental Services in Arkansas Jails.” Education Week, 14 Mar. 2019, www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2019/03/13/youth-miss-out-on-school-mental_ap.html.
Hi Ellie,
ReplyDeleteNice job with this post! I couldn't imagine a world without individualized education, but that world apparently exists in Juvenile detention centers. Learning the exact same thing as countless other inmates regardless of intellectual ability would be an absolutely terrible experience. I also agree with the fact that we need to combat the negative stigma(s) around mental health disorders. If we don't help these people they'll continue to suffer, and there is a high probability that they'll end up back in a correctional facility.
Thanks for sharing!
-Colby
Thank you for sharing your thoughts! It was very interesting to learn how unsatisfactory the education is in juvenile correctional facilities. Inmates do not receive a proper education, nor do they receive treatment for mental health issues. I agree that we must help these girls or else they will keep ending up in detention centers. Thank you for reading!
DeleteGood use of research and current events to develop your point. I constantly feel grateful for the support of education we have in Hopkinton, as I know that it is not guaranteed for every student in the country, even if they are not in detention centers.
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading! It has been a very interesting experience to read this book and contrast these girls' educational experiences with mine. It is amazing to see what an excellent school Hopkinton is when compared to the schools Morris discusses.
Delete