When my grandson was 14 years old, he was arrested and charged with serious alleged crimes. The charges allowed the courts to charge and then try him as an adult. He was first detained in two juvenile detention facilities before being transferred to an adult jail, where he spent a total of almost 15 months, sometimes in isolation because of his age.
We were grandparents raising grandchildren and I had legal custody. When he was first detained in the juvenile system, we had a lot of obstacles with visitation. My husband was not allowed to visit because he was a step grandfather and not the biological grandparent. It made no difference that we had raised him since he was 9 months old. While raising the grandchildren, I had learned about the power of advocacy and peer support from a local organization for grandparents raising grandkids. I began to search for information, groups and support from people who were/had been through what I was going through at that time.
I was finally in touch with the Campaign for Youth Justice and I was referred to Families & Allies for Virginia’s Youth. I was empowered with information about the juvenile justice system. I learned ways to begin to help my grandson and my family deal with this crisis. Someone understood my situation and issues and helped me with a road map to follow. We were having many problems with the system. My grandson needed medication for his asthma, but the jail would not let me request that for him. They said he had to request that for himself, since he was being held as an adult. The problem was he did not know the medication/dose proper medical terms. I had always taken care of that; he was still a child. I was helpless in exercising my rights as his custodial parent/guardian/grandparent.
He was isolated at times because of his age. He received no education while incarcerated at the city jail. He did not get books. He was not allowed to get in a program to study for a GED because of the charges, I was told. He saw and experienced things that a young child should have been protected from. With the support of my son, his uncle, we were able to hire an attorney to handle his case. At his trial he was able to say what happened. He was acquitted of all charges and released. After he was released, we tried to get him back in school. At 16, the school administration felt he was too mature to attend classes with kids his own age. He was not allowed to attend middle school with his peers. Not allowed in regular classes, he went to an alternative school.
He was lost, never the same. I felt his helplessness. That’s why I try so hard to help other families when they are entangled with the same or similar situations. No one expects to find themselves in that situation. I try to get other families to help advocate for changes in the justice system. We might not be able to fix it for our kids or grandkids but we can help to make better changes for others. No child should be incarcerated with adults!