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January 3, 2023  |  By JJAI News In News

Forgotten children at christmas time

LOS NIÑOS OLVIDADOS DE LA NAVIDAD JJI

In Mexico, and many other Latin American countries, there are many things to look forward to during the end-of-year Holidays. There is a celebration for the Virgen de Guadalupe, there are the Posadas, Christmas, New Year’s and in the beginning of January we celebrate my favorite holiday: Día de Reyes where children receive gifts and we cut the Rosca de Reyes to see who has to cook tamales for everyone else in February. All of these celebrations are full of joy and we spend them with our loved ones. For the children these are highly anticipated days because you get to see all of your extended family, you eat delicious candies, and you receive gifts.

Would you like to help more children in conflict with the law receive special Holidays programming? You can donate now and help bring Christmas Contests, Family Reunifications and other fun activities this year using our qr code.

https://www.jjadvocates.org/christmas2022/

Incarcerated children experience these Holidays without any of these celebrations; without their mom’s home-made food, without dad’s hugs, without laughter shared with siblings and cousins. For incarcerated children they see high concrete walls, few decorations, and few, if any, visits from their loved ones. It is a particularly difficult time for the youngest ones, and it doesn’t get easier with each passing year.

During the end of 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, permits for parents, teachers and volunteers to visit the detention centers were still scarce. It had been a particularly daunting year for everyone and we knew the incarcerated children were suffering by being isolated from the rest of the world. We knew the pandemic was taking a toll on their mental and emotional health, so we came together to plan something special for them during the Holidays.

This is how JJAI’s Christmas Contest was born. All detention centers from the Mexican states where JJAI works were invited to participate in a 4-week Christmas contest where the children could create different things to display their artistic talents, have some fun together, and keep their minds busy. It was a very successful project in its first installment, with hundreds of children participating, and the children asked for it to be repeated in 2021 and then in 2022.

Plays, choreographies, Christmas trees, Nativity scenes, songs, paintings, poems and crafts were among the contests that we held for them during the past three years. We provided boxes full of materials and explained they had one week to come up with something to present during a video call where all the children from the detention centers logged into.

Parents were also invited to see their children through these video calls and see the art their children had created. The winning team for each contest received a gift that all the children from that detention center could enjoy. New TV’s, video games, movie nights, sports equipment, board games, new workshops and “Posadas” (Mexican Christmas parties) were some of the prizes to be won.

This year, I had a chance to visit the female detention center located in Mexico City during the day when they received the materials for the third contest. And although the girls had not won the first two contests, it was a good opportunity for them to learn about resilience, cooperation, second chances, and hope by coming together to create something.

The girls opened the box and took out a 7” by 5” sheet of cloth, magazines, colored paper, glue and colored chalk. The instructions were to create a Christmas mural and they began to think of ideas on what Christmas elements to display on the mural. As they were coming up with ideas and going through the magazines they began to think of the past Holidays they spent outside of detention.

I asked them what they were thinking about and they said they thought about their families and the things they were missing out on. They thought about the gifts, the dinners, the fireworks, and how those things seem very distant now. They also told me that they are grateful for these activities because they enjoy doing crafts as it makes them feel useful, it helps them learn that they can work as a team, and they are happy to work together to achieve a goal, but mainly it keeps them busy during a time that can be sad when they don’t receive visits and can’t celebrate in a normal way. They tell me they feel proud to share the things they create with their peers, that they hope we continue this project in the future and that they hope they can win another contest.

When I asked them what they wish to receive for Christmas they said “Freedom”, “To see my family because I get the feeling they are continuing their lives without me and they will soon forget me”, “To win another movie night, like we did last year in the contest” and lastly “a pair of Air Jordan sneakers”. I am moved by their answers and at the same time fascinated by how, even through their difficult experiences, they manage to keep their spirits up, laugh, and ask for gifts any other child would.

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Webinar on COVID-19, Humanitaria Crisis for Youth in Detention in Latin America – Spanish only:

https://youtu.be/3MOSFq_hE1M

March 26th Webinar on COVID-19 and Challenges to the Juvenile Justice System in Mexico – Spanish only:

https://youtu.be/52zianCu_3A

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How the U.S. exports failed policies:

  • International Funding

The U.S. funds more police, court, prosecutor and prison development projects around the world than any other funder.

  • Prison Accreditation.

With U.S. financial support, the American Correctional Association (ACA) has accredited prisons in Mexico, Columbia and the United Arab Emirates. Many of these facilities have documented histories of grave human rights abuses, systemic child abuse and cartel infiltration despite accreditation and re-accreditation by the ACA.

Senator Elizabeth Warren’s report on the failure of the ACA in the U.S. shows why the U.S. should not be funding the ACA overseas.

  • Police Training

U.S. police officers with documented histories of misconduct are hired by the U.S. State Department and sent to developing countries to train police units. 

  • Mass Incarceration and Plea Bargaining 

U.S.-backed plea-bargaining reforms have proliferated across the globe, endangering defendants’ rights to a trial and incentivizing excessive bail and pretrial detention.

  • Drug War Policies

Drug war policies have led to the dramatic growth of incarceration in Latin America, particularly of women. 

  • U.S Criminal Justice Sold as the “Gold Standard”

There is often an assumption that U.S. practices and policies represent a “higher standard,” are “more modern” and “more professional.” 

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  • Rejecting Key International Laws

The US is not a party to key human rights treaties governing criminal justice, such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child  and the American Convention on Human Rights despite the fact that nearly every country where the U.S. promotes its practices are parties to these international instruments.

  • Prioritizing Security Interests over Human Rights

Security, not human rights or community safety, is the priority of the U.S. criminal justice’s foreign investments. This can undermine local reforms to limit police and prosecutor power or reduce incarceration.


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“Convention on the Rights of the Child”

“A Broken Prison and Detention Facility Accreditation System That Puts Profits Over People,” the Office of Senator Elizabeth Warren, December 2020. 

“How Washington Exports Failed Criminal Justice Policies,”  Douglas Keillor, The Crime Report, August 27, 2020.

“Prison: America’s Most Vile Export?” Baz Dreisinger, The Atlantic, September 30, 2015.

“Rights of persons deprived of liberty and privatization of the penitentiary system in Mexico,” Hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, ACHR, April 7, 2016.

“Privatización del sistema penitenciario en México,” Documenta, et al, 2016. 

“Defund the Global Policeman”, Studart Schrader,  n+1 Magazine, Issue 38, Fall 2020, 

Schrader, Stuart (2019) Badges Without Borders: How Global Counterinsurgency Transformed American Policing, University of California Press.


Guerrero

Después de años de lucha y problemas de inseguridad, decidimos en 2022 cerrar nuestro proyecto en Guerrero. Pudimos implementar nuestro instrumento de evaluación previa al juicio para garantizar que los jóvenes de bajo riesgo permanezcan en sus comunidades. Y brindamos apoyo a más de 220 jóvenes, como parte de nuestro proyecto de Movilizando Voluntarios.

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Chiapas

Por invitación del Poder Judicial del Estado de Chiapas, realizamos un estudio para evaluar la viabilidad de implementar nuestros proyectos en la región. En 2022, nuestro equipo presentó los resultados y recomendaciones. El gobierno estatal ahora está decidiendo cómo quieren colaborar con nosotros en el futuro.

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Guerrero

After years of struggle and security issues, we decided in 2022 to close our project in Guerrero. We were able to implement our pretrial screening instrument to ensure low-risk youth stay in their communities. And we provided support to over 220 youths, as part of our Mobilize and Empower project.

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Chiapas

In the state of Chiapas, at the invitation of the state judiciary, we conducted a study to assess the viability of implementing our projects. In 2022, our team presented the results and recommendations. The state government is now deciding how they want to collaborate with us in the future.

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CDMX

Vista como líder nacional en las prácticas del sistema de justicia, la Ciudad de México tiene más adolescentes en detención que cualquier otra jurisdicción. Sin embargo, también ha desarrollado una unidad de seguimiento en libertad con numerosas alianzas con organizaciones. Nuestros proyectos fortalecerán esta área crítica.

JJI está trabajando en la Ciudad de México desde dos vertientes. En Alternativas a la Detención con un monitoreo que comenzó en 2019, pero por causas sanitarias y la pandemia por COVID, se retomó dos años después con un equipo de especialistas el cual ya está preparándose para continuar la actividad. En Movilizando voluntarios, se continúa con los esfuerzos para reunir a más adolescentes con sus familias, gracias al apoyo: “Reunificación familiar”. Así como también se han realizado entrega de enseres en los 6 centros.

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Durango

A pesar de tener un número menor de adolescentes en el sistema de justicia, Durango es una jurisdicción que busca la mejora continua. Durango es el primer estado donde tanto el poder judicial como el ejecutivo han firmado convenios de colaboración para la implementación de nuestros proyectos de Alternativas a la Detención.

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Chihuahua

Chihuahua es nuestro sitio piloto y un estado considerado líder en la reforma penal en México. Nuestros proyectos comenzaron en el 2016. Desde entonces, los tiempos en detención preventiva han disminuido, los adolescentes son supervisados con mayor eficiencia en sus comunidades y se ha mejorado la calidad de vida de aquellos adolescentes que siguen privados de su libertad.

En Chihuahua trabajamos con varios proyectos, como son el monitoreo que se trabaja en conjunto con la autoridad, y con los adolescentes y sus familias trabajamos en talleres, mesas de trabajo, eventos lúdicos, acompañamiento post penal, reubicaciones y traslados de familiares para audiencias y visitas, así como donaciones de enseres, ropa y material deportivo.

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Chihuahua

A national leader in criminal procedural reforms, our pilot project in Chihuahua started in 2016. Since that time the rates and duration of pretrial detention have declined, youth are being successfully supervised in their communities and new programs in the detention center have improved daily life for those children still deprived of liberty.

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CDMX

Looked to as the national leader in youth justice practices, Mexico City has more youth in detention than any other jurisdiction but has also developed a robust probation office and numerous alliances with nonprofits. Our projects will further fortify this critical work.

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Durango

Despite being a smaller jurisdiction, Durango is constantly looking to improve. Durango is the first state where both the Executive Branch and Judicial Branch have signed Memorandum of Understanding to launch the Alternatives to Detention initiatives.

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