I wanted to share another poem by a young person incarcerated at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center. This is from “Escape Route” an anthology put together by the Free Write Jail Arts & Literacy Program.

Guilty Til Proven Innocent
by Humberto G.

The system is crooked

Guilty until proven innocent
is how it seems

Many people’s dreams
are to go home from an adult charge

The age 14 to 16
this is what I mean

They hold you til trial
like driving millions of miles

A lot of road to drive
doesn’t even seem like you were alive!
That’s exactly like my mind!

Either you cop out
or you think you gonna win
without a doubt!

Motion after motion
month after month
sitting incarcerated

No freedom.
Don’t even want to go through this!