MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Djovani Jean-Pierre spent his seventeenth birthday in a small county prison in rural northern Alabama, the place he has languished for greater than part the college yr watching for trial.
At the recommendation of his 51-year-old cellmate, Jean-Pierre avoids touch with others within the prison. The Black teenager of Haitian descent has noticed inmates with swastika tattoos and witnessed beatings, and he has had no in-person or digital visits from his oldsters within the just about six months he has been at the back of bars.
“It’s been exhausting,” Jean-Pierre advised The Related Press. “I simply keep in my cellular.”
His case highlights the prospective risk of state regulations that routinely ship teenager suspects to grownup detention amenities.
Jean-Pierre is charged with first-degree theft, second-degree attack and two misdemeanors, and is jailed beneath an Alabama legislation that provides judges extra discretion to disclaim bail for some other folks accused of violent crimes. He had no prior arrests, but when convicted might be sentenced to lifestyles in jail.
Native activists and juvenile justice advocates say youngsters incarcerated with adults are extra susceptible to abuse and that Jean-Pierre’s state of affairs obviously violates state and federal regulations prohibiting the confinement of minors “the place they are going to have sight, sound, or bodily touch with grownup inmates.” The sheriff says to abide through the ones regulations, Jean-Pierre would should be held in solitary confinement, which is also seriously harmful.
The collection of youngsters in U.S. grownup prisons or jails dropped from a two-decade top of 10,420 in 2008 to a low of two,250 in 2021, in line with the newest Bureau of Justice Statistics knowledge. Nearly 90% of the ones teenagers are in native jails the place individuals are most often held previous to conviction.
Prosecutors stated “a number of eyewitnesses” noticed Jean-Pierre, then 16, use a gun to scouse borrow a loaded pistol from anyone at a birthday celebration in September. No gun used to be fired and nobody used to be injured.
Performing on a tip, a college useful resource officer detained him right through soccer apply tomorrow and located the stolen firearm in his bag. Jean-Pierre could also be accused of assaulting the college useful resource officer.
Government stated Jean-Pierre used to be arrested for stealing the gun however that there’s no proof he supposed to make use of it in school.
On the time, Jean-Pierre’s legal professional stated the costs and his confinement had been racially motivated, given tensions in Albertville surrounding the small the city’s rising Haitian inhabitants. Just about 1,000 other folks signed a petition testifying to the teenager’s personality and supporting his switch to juvenile court docket, the place circumstances are sealed and minors are held in formative years amenities.
However Marshall County District Lawyer Jennifer Bray stated state legislation and proof together with witness testimony averted her from charging him as a juvenile. Bray is positive she’s going to discover a answer with Jean-Pierre’s lawyer that balances responsibility with compassion so he could make certain adjustments in his lifestyles, she wrote in an e mail.
A slew of regulations that took impact in 2024 escalate felony punishments for youths, amid a broader go back to a tough-on-crime manner national. Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee and Louisiana made it more straightforward to fee youngsters in grownup court docket. Proponents say those regulations build up public protection. Warring parties say the adjustments jeopardize the protection of minors accused of crimes.
In Alabama, regulations that routinely ship youngsters to grownup jails have existed for years, which means some minors are held generally inhabitants with adults in violation of federal legislation, stated Charlotte Morrison, a senior lawyer with the Equivalent Justice Initiative.
Morrison recalled no less than 5 counties the place she has labored with or discovered of youngsters who had been abused as a result of they had been held with adults. Grownup amenities can not safely area kids and teens, she stated, and the point of interest will have to as a substitute be their reintegration into the group.
Richard Rice, a civil rights lawyer representing Jean-Pierre, stated {the teenager} have been a powerful pupil however that he does not have get entry to to university fabrics in prison.
“Djovani merits compassion and a moment likelihood to be informed from this enjoy relatively than subjecting him to pointless detainment that fails to serve his highest pursuits or the ones of the group,” Rice stated.
Minors are 8 occasions as more likely to enjoy sexual abuse in an grownup prison than inmates over 18, in line with the Division of Justice, and are greater than two times as more likely to die through suicide in comparison to prison inmates elderly 18 to 24. One learn about discovered minors who’re incarcerated with adults are 33% much more likely to die sooner than they flip 39 in comparison to all different youngsters.
A large number of public defenders, juvenile justice legal professionals and advocates advised the AP they’re surprised that Jean-Pierre is not separated from adults within the prison.
“We understand it is such smartly settled legislation now that you can not area kids with adults,” stated Preston Shipp, a former Tennessee assistant lawyer basic and present coverage director for the Marketing campaign for Honest Sentencing of Adolescence. “This isn’t a grey space anymore.”
Marshall County Sheriff Phil Sims stated the prison doesn’t have the capability to deal with Jean-Pierre one by one from adults with out striking him in solitary confinement.
“That’s extra damaging than anything, particularly to psychological well being,” stated Sims.
He stated Jean-Pierre is housed with other folks charged with non-violent crimes and that he hasn’t had any disciplinary problems.
Jean-Pierre stated his authentic cellmate, who’s now in any other facility, used to be a useful useful resource.
“If it wasn’t for my cellmate, Marcus, I don’t know,” Jean-Pierre stated. “He simply saved being certain, announcing ‘the difficulty will move, take this as a lesson.’”
Jean-Pierre had was hoping he could be recruited to play soccer in faculty or sign up for the Military.
Now, he stated, the uncertainty about his long term is the toughest factor to endure.
“I need everybody to grasp I’m now not a foul user. I simply made a mistake,” he stated. “I’m hoping that each time I will get out, I will trade everyone’s thoughts, do proper.”
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Riddle is a corps member for The Related Press/Document for The usa Statehouse Information Initiative. Document for The usa is a nonprofit nationwide carrier program that puts reporters in native newsrooms to record on undercovered problems.
