Children in Jail

Abstract

A series of life studies of incarcerated children is presented, along with a brief discussion of possibilities for reform. The studies permit these chil dren to speak for themselves about the conditions of jail ¹ and the ex perience of being incarcerated. Some of these are youths who have been tried and sentenced to jail; others were confined in detention centers awaiting trial; and one girl was held illegally in a county jail with adult women. Among the many topics discussed by the children are medical treatment, the lack of educational facilities, the changing nature of their relationships with their parents, the shame and fright of imprisonment, and the physical and psychological effects of being in jail.