My life as a Juvenile Detention Officer...A series of True Stories ...

It's been 2 days since I started writing Maria's story and I am still struggling with this heart wrenching memory. In order to write this story, I am forcing myself to relive those painful memories of a street girl who got caught up in the Juvenile Justice system. I must warn you that the details in this story will most likely break your heart and make you angry. Her story is just one of many that are screaming at me to be told. I would like to start this post by giving you a bit of background information on Maria

Maria (Part 2)

Maria first started coming to Juvy when she was only 12 or 13 years old and was in and out of Juvy all the way up to 18 years old. Most of her arrest were either truancy or probation violations. She was basically a "street kid' in one of the worst gang ridden areas of town. She would stand on the street corners where most of the prostitutes stood waiting for the John's to come by looking for young girls. She would get in the car with them, have them take her to a motel downtown, get them in the room, slip a drug in their drink, wait until they passed out then steal their money out of their wallets and leave. She would brag about doing this to me when she was in Juvy. My reply to her was "My God, girl..if you keep that up, you are going to end up dead in a back alley. Is that what you want?" Her reply was, "Well, maybe I would be better off dead. I need the money to take care of my younger brothers and sisters." "I don't sleep with them because I hate men and I don't want them to put their filthy hands on me!" It was at this point where I highly suspected that she was a victim of child rape.

Maria was a little terror during her stays in Juvy. She was never able to be out on recreation over 10 minutes at a time. Another youth would look at her the wrong way and she would start yelling and cursing at them, especially the known male gang members that lived in the same area she did. When a male staff would try to restrain her, she would yell, scream and kick and demand a female staff. When I would walk up to her, she would put her hands out for me to cuff her and to make a show in front of her peers, she would yell at me "What are you waiting for bitch, just take me to my cell before I beat the crap outta these little boys."

One particular night while I was working a swing shift, Maria starting acting out by picking a fight with another girl. The male staff were still down the boys hallway finishing up their showers. I put my hand on my radio getting ready to call a code for assistance. She saw me with my hand on my radio and begged me not to call a code. When I saw the terror in her eyes, I asked her to give me one good reason not to. She started crying and said she was afraid the male staff would hurt her. I asked her if she was ready to go to her room. "Yes," she replied and held her hands out for the cuffs. I told her that would not be necessary if she would come on her own accord. I followed her down the hall, opened her door and let her in her cell.

As usual, I was back and forth between doing room checks every thirty minutes and helping monitor the dayroom where youth were still out on the floor. When it came time to let the rest of the girls back in their cells, Maria started acting up again. She demanded I let her out of her room to shower. I advised her that she knew that was not allowed as she was on a 24 hour lockdown for acting up. She then started calling me every name in the book. I simply let her vent as I knew she was acting out because she had an audience. Everytime I would look through her cell window to check on her it was something different. First, she saw me looking in, reached in her toilet, grabbed a hand full of feces, licked it and then smeared it on her cell window so I could not see in. I advised her if she did not clean it off, I would have to call the supervisor and he would most likely have her put in restraints. She said okay, wet a hand full of toilet paper and partially cleaned cleaned the feces off. "Are you happy now, you f--ing bitch?" She took the wet feces covered toilet paper and threw it on the ceiling. "Aww this is fun," she said. She then crammed toilet paper in the sink drain, turned on the faucet full blast, wet another handful of toilet paper and started slinging it all around her room and on the ceiling. I had had enough at this point as water was running all on the floor. I walked up to her window and asked "Are you done yet?' Shut the f__k up bitch!" she screamed. Then she smooshed her face on the window pane. By this I was fuming. I walked up to the window, pointed my finger and said, "No bitch, you shut the F--k up." She looked at me in total shock. "Hey, you are staff. You can't talk to me like that!" Well, if you can talk to me like that, then I can talk to you like that, so shut the F--k up and get that messed cleaned up!" I replied. All of a sudden she started laughing. "Okay, I get your point Autie, bring me the mop and a broom and I will clean it up." I opened her cell door and told her, "You made the mess, you go get it yourself." "Really?" "Yes, really." From that day forward, Maria never disrespected me again and when she would start feeling threatened, she would walk up to me and ask me to take her to room. After awhile, she would simply come sat with me on the dayroom floor because she knew I would not let anyone bother her.

The last time I saw Maria, she was 18 and already out of the system. She came to visit her baby's daddy who was not quit 18 yet and in Juvy for a parole violation. She had her infant child with her and was already pregnant with another child. She asked me if I would give her and her child a ride home when I got off shift because had walked all the way there as was tired. She would have had to wait 3 hours for my shift to end, so my co-workers told me to go ahead and take her home and they would cover for me. On the way to taking her home, she told me her mother was a prostitute and on drugs, cps had taken the other kids away from her. She said her mother was pregnant again and her and her mother's baby s were due around the same time.

Several month's later, Maria was shot multiple times in the back in broad daylight while walking in the streets of her own neighborhood. Both her and her unborn baby died on the scene. I never found out what happened to her other child...Rest in Peace Maria! At least a portion of your story has been told and hopefully we here in the Steemit Community can help facilitate changes across the globe to ensure that youth like yourself get the help they so desperately need before it is too late!!

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If you wish to read part I of Maria's Story, you will find the link below along with the links to my other posts for @familyprotection

Also, please go to @familyprotection, read, upvote and resteem as many of these post as you can.

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***My next story --- Tanisha - From The Cradle to The Grave

Tanisha's story is about a young girl sexually abused from infancy, put in foster care around the age of 7, sexually abused by her foster dad - Placed in Juvy for being a run away - All she ever wanted was to have a family that would love her!

Tanisha's story will be even harder to write, so I will be taking a break for a bit..get out and enjoy this beautiful island with camera in hand and attempt to write her story another day. For now, I am going to crawl in my bed and find some "mindless entertainment" on the t.v. and then put on a relaxing meditation and put Juvy to rest.

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Please take the time to watch the video below:

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Journeyman Pictures
Published on Oct 20, 2014

The US Academy of Adolescent and Child Psychiatry forbids the use of solitary confinement on juveniles. Yet on Rikers Island, correctional officers are increasingly enlisting its use against young inmates.

"Going in the Box, your mind just simply can't take it", says Ismael Nazario. He was locked alone in a 6 by 8 foot cell for 23 hours a day, a punitive measure that is linked to half of all suicides among detained teens. Human rights advocates such as the UN Special Rapporteur on torture, Juan Mendez, warn of the severe mental damage caused by subjecting young inmates to punitive segregation. Yet prison staff like Norman Seabrook argue that it is the "only way" to enforce order and safely deal with violent inmates in a stretched jail system. But with reports that more than a quarter of young inmates on Rikers Island jail complex in New York City are being held in solitary confinement, including for minor infractions, many are questioning whether it really is the correct response.

The Center for Investigative Reporting - Ref. 6288
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Inside America's Solitary Confinement For Kids

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It is up to us as a Community to uncover the truth and spread this truth worldwide!

If you or someone you know have children that are now wards of the state and/or government, we encourage you to share your story. If you are an underage youth caught up in this insane cycle of abuse and control..Please share your story..If you have friends in abusive situations..Please have them share their story. We here at steemit.com have caring people that that are willing to help you in anyway we can.

If you wish to donate in support of this project, please do so by sending your donations in the form of Steem, Steem Power and or SBD to @familyprotection

Show your support for @familyprotection, @markwhittam, and @canadian-coconut by visiting their blogs, leaving comments revelent to this most worthy cause, upvoting and resteeming as many of these posts as you feel drawn to do. Please read this post prior to using the @familyprotection tag on any of your posts!

@markwhittam/before-using-the-familyprotection-tag-please-read-this

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"Let the things break your heart that break the heart of God!"