Children In Prison

Each year children are sentenced life in prison without parole. That is 2570 children sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole according to the American Civil Liberty Union. Children are abused immensely in prison. Some sexually assaulted from the prison guards and the inmates and some just beaten. Children that are sentenced are taken advantage of and can’t do anything about due to their small size and of the word “snitch”. In the book Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, Bryan meets with many kids that have been sentenced death in prison and hopes to change that. Some of those children consist of Charlie, Ian, and Trina. In the New York times BestSeller Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson tries to make a difference on how children …show more content…
Ian's family left him which made him homeless. Ian decided to rob somebody while being accompanied by two other boys with a gun. The lady they robbed was named Debbie Baigre. Debbie decided to fight back which ended up bad for the both of them, Debbie was shot by Ian in the jaw and Ian committed a major crime. Ian did not have a good lawyer and was not educated on some laws which was Ian's downfall. Ian was told to plead guilty to attempted homicide. The judge proceeded to sentence the thirteen year old boy life in prison. The prison decided that the best thing for Ian was to be put into solitary confinement where he was sectioned off from any other inmates and the prison workers that threatened him with abuse or sexual assault. “A teacher who had been confined in the facility when she was a teenager confided to us that she had been sexually assaulted by a staff member who was still in our employ years later.” (“What Mass Incarceration Looks Like for Juveniles” …show more content…
This child is named Trina, a sixteen year old girl who was charged with second degree murder and sentenced life in prison just as the rest. Trina had a rough life as a child, she was born into poverty and went to the worst ranked school in Pennsylvania. It didn't help that Trianas father was an alcoholic that was abusive who raped and assaulted both the mother and her. She was put into a program to help her with the psychiatric problems she faced. Trina decided to run away from her abusive dad. As time goes on Trina decides to sneak into a house and she happened to drop the match that was lighting her way, burning and killing the two boys inside. Trina was raped by the prison guard and even impregnated by him. While giving birth Trina was handcuffed to the bed and her son was put into a foster care. The guard was only fired not even punished for the horrific acts he conceded. She developed lots of mental illnesses and multiple sclerosis. Trina was put into a wheelchair due to the illnesses that she faced in the adult prison she was sentenced in. Stevenson writes about the common trend of male violence and the failure to inform the court about Trina’s problem which could of let her off the hook. Show’s the common theme of violence and poverty throughout the