This is going to be an angry post. It is unapologetically so.

I challenge anyone who has one iota of compassion for children to watch this news report and not feel sick to your stomach.

This feels to me like the Roman Colosseum — the incarcerated youth of Murphysboro hardly figure into these proceedings. They are merely pawns in a high stakes game waiting to be thrown to the lions. Meanwhile the politicians are arguing to keep a youth prison open because community members will lose their jobs. It is too much. Profiting off others’ misery is disgusting.

In the midst of my rage, I am trying to muster some sympathy today for the community members who are going to be losing their jobs. But honestly, how can you advocate to keep a prison that houses CHILDREN open at all costs? It is sick and selfish. The Governor has made promises to relocate workers to other state facilities for God’s sake. I am throwing an emotional tantrum but somebody has to. By the way, I do not want these young people shuffled to another prison. We need to DECARCERATE this state. Let’s shift just 10% of the $140,000 a year that it costs to lock these children up to community-based alternatives instead. It will be more humane, efficient and cost-effective.

These are OUR children locked up in these prisons. We should all be screaming bloody murder about this. We should all remember that the Mayor of Murphysboro, Ron Williams, had this to say about the value of the young prisoners to the town:

“They do everything we ask, whether it be trimming shrubs, sweeping gutters, cleaning up sidewalks, picking up trash out of the street. They do it willingly and a smile on their face,” says Williams.

Are you F’ing kidding me? Doesn’t this make you think of Little Black Sambo? This should make it crystal clear what some of the the townfolks think of the majority black and brown youth prisoners at IYC-Murphysboro.

Let me also make it crystal clear that I DO NOT want to transfer a youth prison for an adult prison either. The point should be to close the facility PERIOD. Not to replace youth bodies with adult bodies. Enough!

The people who are advocating that IYC-Murphysboro remain open are condoning this:

by Steve Liss

If you live in Illinois and are at all concerned about these issues, I invite you to a TEACH IN about Closing Youth Prisons that is taking place on Saturday October 29th from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. I can only hope that the teach-in is as packed as the hearing room in Murphysboro was. We need to rally a base equal in size at least to the people who support the status quo.

You can visit the "Closing Illinois Youth Prisons" blog for more background on the failures of juvenile incarceration.