A youth organization in Illinois has turned to efforts to close a youth detention facility that has existed for more than a century.
The Final 5 Campaign is an organization dedicated to closing the remaining five youth prisons in Illinois. One of them, the Illinois Youth Center in St. Charles, Illinois is the organization’s main priority. This particular facility has a history of 127 years.
Former outreach worker AnnMarie Brown described her experience working in a detention facility to WBBM-TV.
“[Inmates are] Behind the fence and barbed wire,” Brown said. “They are not animals. They are human. You put them in such a hostile environment, and then you realize why they might show it, or might feel that they don’t want to be here, or they are calling for help. “
“They are humans. They should be able to laugh, love, have pain and endure this trauma, and be able to talk about it like everyone else,” Brown concluded.
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The Illinois Youth Center in St. Charles can accommodate more than 300 children, but there are currently 30 young people in the facility.
Jennifer Vollen-Katz is the executive director of the John Howard Society, a non-partisan prison watchdog.She and CBS Chicago Regarding the challenges faced by various youths, they are being held in detention facilities such as the Illinois Youth Center in St. Charles.
“A lot of evidence is very clear that it hurt them,” Warren Katz said. “And it will increase the possibility of criminal behavior when they grow up, so the research is very clear. The research is very clear and listened to the opinions of children affected by the juvenile justice system.”
Through research, the Final 5 Campaign found that ten years ago, there were eight youth prisons in Illinois holding nearly 1,200 young people. Currently, there are only 100 young people in five prisons.
On Friday, the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice (IDJJ) issued a statement on the latest developments in juvenile incarceration.
The statement said: “Since the announcement of the 21st Century Illinois Transition Model last year, IDJJ has been working hard to reduce the harm of incarceration, create better youth outcomes, and increase community safety.”
The statement continued: “In the past few months, we have contacted youth and families involved in justice, community leaders, system partners, staff and advocates to gather suggestions on how we can improve our transformation plan.”
The statement ends with IDJJ’s commitment to transform from “larger prison-like facilities to smaller, therapeutic, and developmental youth centers closer to youth communities.”
