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June 9, 2016  |  By Douglas Keillor In News

“Let me tell you about Gabriel”

[:en]BoybybedBy Tamara Thompson

Let me tell you about Gabriel, a 16-year-old boy from Chihuahua City I met recently during a visit to the juvenile detention center there. The first thing I saw was the back of Gabriel’s head, because he and all of the other boys in the cell block were ordered to turn with their backs to us as we entered the cell block and could not turn around and face us until given permission to do so. My throat and gut got very tight at the message that this is designed to send—that Gabriel and the other boys with him behind bars are nothing. When Gabriel turned around and I saw his eyes—big and brown, a mix of shy, sad and shame, often downcast but not yet dull or defeated—my own eyes started to well up. As the mother of a teenage boy, I was keenly aware that I was approaching someone’s son and that on the day he was born, and when she held him in her arms for the first time, his mother never wished for him to end up behind bars. Now in order to see her son twice a week Gabriel’s mother has to go to a prison.

 

Like all the other boys, Gabriel’s hair was cut military style, and he was wearing a gray t-shirt and sweat pants. He was in a cell along with five other boys but only four beds. About 5-foot 6, he stood close to the metal bars and speaking softly and respectfully he told me that he had been going to school before he was arrested and detained—math is his favorite subject—but because he is in pre-trial detention he is not in school now. That’s only for kids who have been convicted. The middle of nine children, three brothers and five sisters, Gabriel told me that he had been in the detention center for two months for stealing a television. It was his first offense. His dream is to get out of detention and go back to school. I asked how soon that might be; he said he wasn’t sure. When he told me with resignation that he may be facing a year in prison my head exploded, and I felt like someone had punched me in the gut. I wanted to scream “A year for stealing a television?!?”

 

I couldn’t think of anything intelligent to say in response, but I also couldn’t look away. My eyes pleaded with him “Gabriel, how will you beat the odds and get your life back? How will you maintain a sense of self and self-esteem when everything here tells you that you are nothing? How will you not become a statistic and not be twice as likely to succumb to depression and the temptation to dull your pain and isolation with drugs and/or suicide? How will you go back to school when it’s now more likely that after spending two months in detention you’ll return to prison? How will you not fall prey to the two boys convicted of murder in the cell next to yours whom I’m sure will be more than willing to fill the void of your identity with their own version of who you are now, and convince you to join the ranks of serious criminals?” I didn’t ask any of these questions out loud. Instead, when it was time to go, trying to sound upbeat and hopeful, I said “Échale muchas ganas.” Do your best. “Yes, I will, thank you,” he responded.

 

The main factor determining Gabriel’s detention is poverty. Essentially, he is being punished not just for stealing a television but for being poor. Kids with money don’t end up in detention. Magistrate Rogelio Guzman confirmed this when we met with him recently. He also said that keeping kids out of detention who don’t need to be there will save lives. It’s easier, smarter, and takes fewer resources. It’s better for everybody, and everybody wins. The Children In Prison Project is dedicated to making sure that kids should only be detained as a last resort and for the shortest time possible.[:]

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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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