Since Ramel has worked at Rikers Island Jail for 19 years, he gave us lots of information on the prison system and what goes on inside of the jail daily for kids and adults. Ramel has been a guard for all types of ages who are in different circumstances. He has to take over an important role by monitoring people and their safety. Yet at the same time he has a relationship with inmates in times they don’t have anyone to talk to. Ramel also guards people 16-18 and sees a range of emotions between teens that could have caused them to end up in jail. Many teens in jail have depression and need things they aren’t accessible to in a jail cell at times such as programs or even role models. “Most of the kids don’t have a positive role model in their life which might have created their hard-headed, dangerous mentality.

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My group met with Jordyn Wilson, who is a youth justice campaign associate at the sentencing project. The sentencing project helps kids who get trialed as adults but are juveniles. and works to impact youth incarceration. We all collectively learned about the experiences of kids in jail. We also learned that “Other countries have more stable facilities and systems for incarcerated people and go through less trauma throughout their experience.” Jordyn informed us with more in-depth information relating to kids in jail and allowed us to view various perspectives on this. issue.

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