Timothy “James” Parsell was a fun-loving kid that enjoyed hanging out with his older brother and spending time with his family. He wasn’t from a broken home nor did he experience any severe trauma growing up. His descent into the world of criminal justice began when at the age of 17, when he robbed a photo shop with a toy gun. To the young TJ, this was done for kicks but the judicial system did not think so.

“It was a stupid act,” Parsell recalls. “It was a serious crime but a stupid act.”

This “stupid act” dealt serious consequences to TJ as he was sentenced and convicted as an adult and sent to adult prison. On March 3, 1978, he was held and processed in the Wayne County Jail, where he got his first dose of what incarceration was really like. In his book, Fish: A Memoir of a Boy in a Man’s Prison, he details his thoughts and reactions to his first few hours spent locked in the system.

“There must have been 30 of us in the pen, but only four of us were white. I sat on the floor, with my back against the wall, avoiding eye contact with anyone. I absently chewed my nails as I tried to pretend it was all routine, like I’d been through it all before and wasn’t fazed, but I was too afraid to look up and see if anyone noticed. It was hard to think with all the noise. The large metal gate opening, inmates yelling, electric cell doors opening and closing, and the sounds of heavy chains crashing to the floor.”

TJ  was eventually convicted as an adult, and sentenced to the now defunct Jackson State Prison, where he stood no chance in a facility full of adults. As a self-described “tall but skinny, 148-pound” young man, he was immediately targeted by older inmates upon his arrival. In fact, he was gang-raped by a group of men within his first 24-hours of being incarcerated. It has been years since TJ’s incarceration, but he says that he is still dealing with the trauma from the ordeal “I don’t think I’ll ever be completely recovered especially from the sexual trauma experience,” said TJ. “It has been 30 plus years since I’ve been in prison, but I occasionally wake from nightmares and I’m startled by the slightest sounds at night. And this is after decades of therapy, I still suffer from the long term effects of PTSD.”

Like TJ, the thousands of youth sentenced to adult prisons are at a great risk for physical and sexual abuse. These violent, traumatic experiences that many youthful prisoners face while incarcerated are often not adequately addressed with mental health treatment and services that are age and developmentally appropriate, and may continue to negatively affect them long after being released. When the incarcerated youth leave adult prisons, the physical/sexual abuse, and negative influences of older adult inmates may factor into the  increased likelihood that they will re-offend, and national research has shown that these offenses are often more violent than youth released from the more youth-focused facilities within the juvenile justice system.

“This is problematic because they are still children,” said TJ. “Physically, developmentally, mentally, they are still adolescents. The brain studies have certainly shown that scientifically, adolescent brains aren’t developed yet. Young adult brains don’t develop well into their 20’s.” TJ feels that placing youth in adult facilities is a recipe for disaster. He urges lawmakers and their constituents to look at the facts and understand that youth in adult facilities are at an extremely high risk of assault and abuse and have a greater risk of suicide.

TJ is not against punishing youth who break the law. In fact, he feels it’s important to show them that their behavior was wrong and should face consequences. However, this should be done succinctly and efficiently to hold youth accountable and ensure that they never return to the criminal justice system again.  As an alternative to incarcerating TJ suggests using restorative justice approaches that hold youth accountable for their actions while still providing them the opportunity to repair harm to victims and learn from their mistakes. These approaches also engage the whole family, which is so important for a young person’s long-term success.

Michigan should remove all youth under age 18 from adult jails and prisons and provide access to developmentally appropriate, rehabilitative services available in youth-serving community-based programs, and juvenile justice facilities (when out of home placement is necessary). As TJ knows, kids are different than adults, and should treated differently when they are in trouble with the law.

Posted by MCCD on Monday, October 12th, 2015 @ 12:06PM
Categories: Raise the Age, Youth in Adult System