Kids in adult prisons? Yes, in 2013 there were 6,000+ in the U.S. These kids have few appropriate services or support as they experience sexual assault, beatings, and psychological torture. They are more likely to try suicide than kids detained in non-adult prisons, and once they get out are 77% more likely to commit crimes. This does NOT sound like a way to rehabilitate them–and they’re at the age when they are very able to change. Nor is it a way to get them ready for a productive adult life on the outside.
Read more at the Credo website. While you’re there, sign their petition to Attorney General Loretta Lynch, which simply reads, “The Department of Justice must immediately launch an investigation into the practice of trying and jailing children as adults.”