2010 Winner: 17 & Under

A child peering out from between the metal bars that isolate her from society is heartbreaking. The typical response to such a sight would be deep felt sympathy for her plight; but compassion starts with awareness, and few among us know the tragedy of the over one million imprisoned children in the world. Some of these children are imprisoned charged with a crime, while others are innocent minors obligated to live with their incarcerated parent. In many countries, these children do not have access to education, proper food, health care, or protection from abuse from adult inmates while incarcerated, which ensures a cycle of poverty. If prisons are unable for financial reasons to provide education opportunities for imprisoned children, they should be required to work with the private sector and churches to ensure children are being given the knowledge they need to be successful upon leaving prison. Fortunately, there exists non-profit organizations which illustrate strong models of how to partner with correction departments around the world to provide education and hope to children behind bars.

Without education, a child’s future is bleak. This is true for all children, but primarily for children with either a criminal record or with only the knowledge of how society operates behind bars as opposed to the “real world”. In the DRC, imprisoned children rely on family and friends to bring food, but unfortunately many don’t receive any visitors. How will these abandoned children succeed or even survive when they are released from prison? The same situation exists in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where children ages 6 to 17 are imprisoned. On visiting day, the adult prison is crowded with family and friends, but the visitors are minimal at the juvenile facility because so many of the imprisoned are orphaned or abandoned. Who will meet, care for, and mentor these children when they are released back into society? At least with an education, these children will be more prepared to enter society.

The United Nations is aware of the inhumanity of placing children in prison, especially in adult prisons as many countries do. The imprisonment of a child should occur “only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time” and the child “shall be treated with humanity and respect for the inherent dignity of the human person, and in the manner which takes into account the needs of persons of his or her age” (Convention on the Rights of the Child). So, why do governments continue to imprison children?

In Bolivia, the non-profit organization Save the Children has come to the rescue of many of the more than 1,500 children who live in prison with a parent (Save the Children, 2009). In partnership with the Ministerial Department of the Penitentiary System of Bolivia, the organization has introduced education and technology to children residing in the San Pedro prison in La Paz. The development of a technology center with computers and instruction is opening the door to opportunities and income to these children when they are released.

Ethiopia, one of the world’s poorest nations, has in recent years come to recognize the need for investing in the country’s incarcerated youth, in particular the innocent victims who reside with their incarcerated parent. The prison administration has partnered with Prison Fellowship Ethiopia to bring formal education to the young children residing in prison with their mothers. Class space provided by the prison administration and teachers provided by PF Ethiopia has resulted in the “Twinkle of Hope – Child and Mother Focused Project” which is presently educating over 100 children in participating prisons. While the children receive an education, the mothers receive skills training in tailoring and embroidery. Imagine educated children with an employed parent walking out the prison gate to a new life instead of a life of poverty, crime, and hopelessness.

A small non-profit organization in Peru is making a significant impact on the lives of many children. Prison Fellowship Peru operates the Angel Tree Centre to serve children ages six to seventeen years old. Three days a week, children residing in prison and prisoners’ children who reside with relatives can be brought to this loving establishment to receive education, food, and medical as well as psychological assistance. The organization even operates a daycare center for children under four for one of the country’s largest women’s prison. Just last year, a new fieldtrip program was initiated; volunteers have since taken the little ones on daytrips to the zoo, the beach, the fire station, and a private daycare center. Imagine a child’s joy in leaving the prison for the first time, seeing the immense ocean, feeling the cool water on his feet, and building a sand castle. Education is more than just learning to read and write, it is learning about the community and the world in which you live, and how people help each other just because we are all God’s children!

The imprisonment of children is also a problem in Asia. In the small country of Cambodia, where 80% of the population is designated poor by the United Nation, the government allots only the equivalent of 25 American cents per prisoner daily for food, medicine, and clothes (Cambodian League for the Promotion of Defense Human Rights, 2009). Despite the poor prison conditions, a non-profit has stepped in, with the help of many dedicated volunteers, to start the country’s first in-prison high school. Prison Fellowship Cambodia has made it possible for juveniles to continue their education in prison or, as many often be the case, to start their education.

But, the negative impact of juvenile incarceration is not just true in poor countries. Juveniles throughout the world suffer similar problems. In most institutions, they are exposed to violence and drug-trafficking and are at risk of abuse by correction officers and other prisoners. Even in the most wealthy countries, prison conditions are not pleasant, and isolation from family and society is difficult. In Germany, an alternative juvenile prison unit was created by Prison Fellowship Germany, in partnership with the Department of Corrections. Instead of going to prison for two to three years, these boys are sent to an old renovated farmhouse to live with volunteer families who help them learn about responsibility. They receive an academic and biblical education, play sports, learn carpentry or another trade, and in being mentored learn about being a member of a “family”. In other words, the boys are taught how to succeed on their own when they are released!

In reading and watching videos about the plight of imprisoned children around the world, it would be difficult not to feel the suffering. In feeling the suffering, it would be difficult not to have a deep desire to help these children succeed once they walk through the prison gates back into society. Several years ago, I first became aware of the massive number of imprisoned children around the world and the harsh conditions in which they live. I have since spent a year making soup for a soup kitchen in England where many young ex-offenders would come on a daily basis. More recently, I have started an International Justice Club at my school to educate students about restorative justice and the little details, like child imprisonment, of which your average person isn’t well-informed. I have found that when students are actually able to visualize the child peering out from between the metal bars, they are moved to action.