Pubdate: Sun, 19 Mar 2006 Source: Miami Herald (FL) Copyright: 2006 The Miami Herald Contact: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/262 Author: Peter Bailey Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration) BEHIND BARS, STUDENTS LEARN THEY CAN HOPE In Classes And Books At The Miami-Dade Juvenile Detention Center, Teenagers Find Temporary Respite From Their Legal Troubles Carlos Barrow gazes at his students trying to focus on his history lesson. He discusses Martin Luther's defiance of the Catholic Church. He calls Luther a rebel who was misunderstood by many of his own, and explains how he brought about great change -- shaped the Protestant reformation -- after conquering his own demons. The lesson fascinates most of the 20 or so teenage boys seated at wooden desks in ''Mod 3,'' a small recreation area surrounded by jail cells inside the Miami-Dade Juvenile Detention Center. They nod in approval of Luther's crusade. No chalkboard is here; instead, Barrow raises his hand and slams it on a desk, mirroring the rage of Catholic priests who tried to quell Luther's rebellion. His history class, taught at a 10th-grade level, has students ranging from 14 to 18 years old. ''If you can relate the history lesson to what they're going through, then you'll begin to win them,'' Barrow will tell a reporter later. Suddenly, the brown steel classroom door screeches open. A uniformed guard steps into the room, presenting a harsh reality: ''Joshua, you're wanted in court!'' he announces. For a moment, Barrow's class is silent as the teen, clad in a brown jailhouse jumpsuit, gets up from the back row and shuffles out. ''Barrow is a good teacher, but it's hard to concentrate when you got a court date and you're dealing with people in here who aren't trying to learn,'' said 18-year-old Elvis, who shakes his head as Joshua walks by. Such disturbances are routine for troubled lives now locked in eight- by six-foot cells. An Accredited School The Juvenile Detention Center provides an accredited school where incarcerated youths like Joshua and Elvis attend classes while they await trial and sentencing; their crimes range from petty theft to murder. [The Miami Herald agreed not to publish last names because most of the youths were juveniles.] They usually stay about 15 days, sometimes much longer, and receive the same curriculum as Miami-Dade public school students in grades six through 12. But here, kids charged with serious crimes sit alongside those charged with misdemeanors. ''Sometimes you have a kid charged with theft next to a kid booked for murder . . . It's a classification issue that needs to be looked at,'' said Robert Sheppard, a former assistant superintendent at the detention center who recently transferred to the detention center in Palm Beach County, where he lives. The staff must handle a large number of new arrivals in a relatively short time. Kids come in every day, at nearly every hour. Last year, more than 12,000 kids were processed here. The volume of new detainees forces the 23 or so teachers there to complete academic assessments in two days. ''We constantly have a turnover of students, and normally these students already face huge academic deficits,'' said principal Orlando Milligan. About a third of the students have learning disabilities, and 80 percent read below grade level, he said. Some, though, are too volatile to be in the classroom at all. ''We have to put some of them in seclusion,'' Milligan said. ``We can't send them to detention. They're already here.'' Even behind bars, some students strive for success -- such as those who took the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test last week. But for others, education has no place in their lives. Elvis pulled his first trigger at 15 -- a ''hand cannon'' -- during a fit of rage and was later charged with four armed robberies. He's awaiting sentencing for holding a shopkeeper at gunpoint, his second strong-arm robbery conviction. ''I grew up around a lot of guns and drugs and I got caught up, but I gotta change this mess around,'' said the Hialeah native. ``I'm tired of being in a cage.'' He was transferred recently to the detention center after spending six months in county jail, where he got into fights. He hopes the juvenile court judge will sentence him to house arrest so he can enroll at a vocational school in hopes of becoming an electrician. In the meantime, Barrow's class gets him back on the academic track. ''I think Barrow's lesson shows that I got a second chance in this world,'' says Elvis. Classes -- always monitored by a guard -- end in a routine that reminds students they are behind bars: All are searched. All pens and pencils, which could be used as shanks and other weapons, must be accounted for. `That Happened To Me' Across the yard in another classroom, Carrie Dola-Parker reviews a social studies lesson with about a dozen female detainees, ages 15 to 18. They discuss an essay called ''He Had AIDS and I Didn't Even Know It!'' from a book entitled 31 of Taneka's Urban Life Tales, which reflects daily struggles of troubled teens. After reading about a 22-year-old man imprisoned for spreading HIV, students are asked: How does it make you feel to know this is a true story? Will this change the way you live? If you were the judge, what kind of punishment would you have given him? Some of the girls gasp at the thought of the young man's apathy; others shake their heads, reflecting on their own mistakes. Another essay entitled ''Why Didn't I Tell Someone He Hit Me?'' resonates with one 16-year-old, and she shares her experience with the group. ''That happened to me before. My boyfriend use to beat me with a stick and kick me in the head,'' she says. For young lives deluged by despair, perhaps it's no surprise that writing and language arts are favorite subjects. Teachers encourage students to keep journals and channel their pain through words. Their work is posted on colorful fliers around the center's library. The Bluford Series are among the most-read books at the detention center. Titles such as The Gun and Someone To Love Me depict teens trying to survive amid urban decay. Sitting crouched on a concrete bed in her windowless cell, 15-year-old Margaret explained why she reads Maniac Magee. She sees herself, a troubled and adventurous teen, in Maniac. ''The boy in the book always runs away from home; I always run away from home. We both run from our problems,'' she sighed. She ended up at the detention center after she and her friends broke into a parked minivan. This is her third stay at the center in three months. ''We were high on Zanac and weed, so we decided to steal a Caravan because they're the easiest to pop the lock on,'' said Margaret. Lessons learned in lockup may lead to new beginnings. Margaret said the center's teachers give her something she didn't feel at Miami Beach Senior High, where she hasn't been to class in several months. ''The teachers here pay more attention to me and show they care,'' she said. ``I've learned more here than in the regular school.'' Added principal Milligan: ``They can't skip class in here. Our attendance is 100 percent.'' - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin