Thanks to local ministry, teenagers incarcerated at Martin Hall Juvenile Detention Facility get to celebrate Christmas behind bars
MEDICAL LAKE — The kids sit at various tables working on Christmas projects, as kids will do during the holidays.
The concrete walls of the large, utilitarian room devoid of decoration echo with youthful voices and laughter as they decorate Santa-shaped cookies with sprinkles and frosting, or paint cheap wood craft store ornaments with the help of volunteers dressed in a Santa costume or sporting headbands of reindeer antlers or oversized elf ears.
The kids are all dressed nearly the same, their shoelaces replaced with Velcro.
Their laughter is broken by the occasional squawk of a two-way radi...
Reader Comments(1)
Melodyyouker writes:
There is one detail that bothers me a lot about this story. We NEVER call our youths prisoners. We call them students, teenagers or clients. By using the word prisoner, adds another label our youths do not need added to their negative outlook. They hear they are bad, addicts, gangsters, rejects and a no-good piece of c*** from society. Often when a youth is given a label, they become that label. Our youths are finally in a safe place where they are treated fairly and not like a prisoner.
12/26/2019, 10:44 am