Jail project helps youthful offenders

Mary Baron and Darrin Hayes at the Duval County Jail

A couple of times a week, Mary Baron enters a rather unusual classroom to teach creative writing. Her students are juveniles in the Duval County Jail.

Through a project called “Living Inside,” Baron is part of a team of people who have been brought together by a grant from the Jacksonville Cultural Council. The grant, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the state’s Division of Cultural Affairs, is designed, among other things, to provide these youths with outlets for creativity and for expressing feelings and experiences, Baron explains. It combines creative writing with photography and graphic design.

Through the experience, organizers hope to increase the chances of the youths leading positive, productive lives upon release. A side benefit is to increase literacy levels and enhance skills useful in employment. Admittedly, these are lofty goals, but as the program nears its conclusion, there is evidence that it is having its intended effect.

Keto Porter, who coordinates special juvenile projects in the State Attorney’s Office, said the feedback from the young men has been very positive.

“These individuals are not easily moved by anything,” Porter says. “When these young men come to me and tell me that this program has made a difference in their lives, I know it is a major accomplishment.”

Porter praised Baron and the other participants for the courage to enter a jail situation to teach.

“There are many individuals who would be afraid to come to jail or be intimidated by the experience,” he says. “I can’t say enough about Mary and the others.”

The others include Darrin Hayes, a former UNF employee who now has his own Web design company, and Sandro Malagola and Naomi Olenek, both professional photographers. The project director is Doreen O’Toole, the director of education at the Cultural Council.

All of the participants are “certified juveniles,” meaning they are young men between 13 and 18 who have been incarcerated as adults because of the seriousness of their crimes. They test at reading levels from third to 10th grade, so literacy training is an important component of the project.

Baron says the experience has been rewarding and challenging. Just working in a jail setting is challenging because of the additional safety precautions that are necessary. For example, no hardbound books can be used because they may be used as weapons. Likewise, there has to be an exact count of pencils at the end of each class period.

Despite these restrictions, Baron says she has been able to make progress with the young men. She started working with 10 in September 2003. Because of transfers and releases, that number has been reduced to seven.

“They are growing to trust us, and good interaction is developing. I think it helps them just to know that someone is reaching out for them,” she says.

Baron brings the inmates books, some donated by UNF students, that deal with some of the same situations they are facing as individuals. One UNF student who wanted to keep her books, gave Baron a gift card to Barnes & Noble to buy books “for your guys in jail.”

The men spend some time each day in a common area and can pass the books to each other. She encourages the men to write poetry that allows them to express their feelings. Poetry was selected because its brevity and flexible standards make it less threatening to those with poor literacy skills. Baron noted that it also ties in well with cultural and oral traditions, such as songwriting and rapping.

Each student is given a journal in which they are allowed to express their feelings. If they agree, the poetry can be posted on a “Living Inside” Web site that Hayes has established for the project at www.culturalcouncil.org/livinginside.htm. The Web site also will be used to display photos taken by the men. They also can design their own sites and are taught
graphic design and programming skills.

“They have discovered that they don’t need fancy language to describe their feelings. Their words are heartfelt,” Baron says. One young man wrote, ‘I have open wounds and words are my healing.’”

To visit the "Living Inside" project on-line click on the link below:
http://www.culturalcouncil.org/livinginside/Living_Inside.html