By Sadie
Q: In your opinion, what is the best way to prevent youth incarceration ?
A: The best way to improve youth incarceration is to give kids more options in life. Whether it be educational opportunities or job opportunities, if a youth has no option but to join a gang, he will. If he has no option but to steal or commit a crime, he will. Also, family life is important. A great majority of my students do not have fathers in their lives. Most have mothers who work multiple jobs and are never home to raise and guide their kids. So if there is no adult/parental guidance, who raises these kids? The streets do. Peer influence is very powerful. If you don’t have a mother or father to tell you what’s right or wrong you will be much more inclined to be influenced by that drug dealer on the street corner. And if you are out on the street corners, you are likely not in school. And if you are not in school, you’re options in life are much more limited.
Q: What made you decide to teach at Rikers?
A: Before teaching at Rikers I taught English at a small high school in East Harlem. It was a bit frustrating working there because I didn’t have as much as freedom to be creative as I would’ve liked. The Assistant Principal told me about an opportunity to teach at Rikers. I was very intrigued by the idea. I liked the fact that it was a non-traditional/alternative kind of school and I consider myself a non-traditional/alternative kind of teacher. There was a lot of freedom to be creative in the classroom and to do things you couldn’t do in a traditional school.
Q: Did you enjoy your job?
A: I do. It can be very challenging and stressful. I mean these are the “worst of the worst” that the New York City educational system has to offer. These are kids who for the most part end up in jail because they failed at school or just didn’t go to school. They’re also angry, loud, and sometimes, downright intimidating. But the job can be very rewarding. Many of my students have not been to school in years and have given up on school and now they are forced to attend, even though it’s in jail. The rewarding part is when something clicks in them in class. Some little light goes on in their heads and they think, “Hmmm, maybe I can do this school stuff. Maybe I can get my high school diploma or GED. Maybe I don’t ever have to come back here.” It’s those moments that make all the challenges and frustrations worthwhile.
Q: What are the incarcerated youth like? Bitter, mad, remorseful, happy?
A: Every day we get new arrivals and departures, kids are coming and going. When they are new, kids are very stressed out. This stress can manifest as anger or fear or depression. A new kid will walk into the classroom and may feel the need to establish himself. Most of the kids are in gangs, so if there are rival gangs in the same room, that will be a problem. Sometimes, a new kid will walk in and just put his head down because he is so stressed. Anxiety is an issue because my kids are not sentenced yet. They are not sure of what their fate will be. They go to court every few weeks as their case is being worked out. Some charges are serious (murder, rape, etc.) and a kid can be looking at ten years in prison. I had a kid sentenced to 45 years. So if it’s a serious charge with serious time, the kid will not care at all about school. He will be very angry and will make sure everyone else knows he is angry.Some kids are remorseful and look at school as an opportunity to better themselves. After a while, if a group of kids have been there for a while, they can get comfortable. Sometimes it gets almost like a summer camp when they get too comfortable.
Q: What do you think about adolescents getting charged as adults even though they are not 18?
A: It’s a bit unfair. Sixteen and seventeen is still very young. When I was that age I made stupid decisions, none stupid enough to get me locked up, thankfully. Kids at that age are still learning and should be able to learn from those mistakes as a kid and not as an adult. New York is one of only two states in the country that treats sixteen and seventeen year olds as adults.
Q: Why do you believe youth incarceration is an important social justice issue?
A: Society is as strong as its weakest link. Kids are the future of society. If an unnecessarily large amount of kids are getting locked up then that’s a serious issue for the future of society. We need to strengthen this weak link in our society and we will all be better off for it. I see a lot of kids at Rikers, a lot. Some of them need to be locked up but not all of them. A lot are victims of a flawed justice system.
Q: Do you think that there is enough awareness about youth incarceration?
A: If not, what could kids like me do to help?I’m not really sure about this question. I do know that before I started working there I didn’t know much at all about the topic. But my eyes sure were opened when I got there. When people find out where I work they are fascinated and intrigued. They ask a lot of questions because they really want to know about it. So people out there do want to know more about it. Here’s a link to a great article about where I teach and who I teach. http://nymag.com/news/features/70978/ Social media is probably the best way to raise awareness.
Q: What do you think about ATIs (Alternatives to Incarceration) such as HousingPlusSolutions?
A: Inside Rikers there are many programs to help rehabilitate and reform the inmates. I truly believe that jail and prison should be about rehabilitation more than just punishment. So if there are programs out there that can truly do it, then I’m for it.
Short Biography by Nick Licata: I grew up in Queens, NY but now live in South Orange, NJ with my wife and two daughters. I started teaching high school English in 2004 at Urban Peace Academy in East Harlem. I taught there for four years. In 2008, I transferred to East River Academy on Rikers Island. ERA is a NYC Department of Education school that serves incarcerated adolescents.
