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Show Can Convicts Help Teen-Ager- s Out of Trouble? Keep It's a new concept in crime prevention prisoners telling youngsters what the fruits of crime really are By WILLIAM V. LONG THE on the MEN STANDING of a au- high-scho- ol ditorium in Wyoming are dressed in drab gray clothes, the garb of prisoners. They look out on a sea of teenage faces, and one convict, a murderer, says, "Take a good look at what we're wearing because one out of every 100 kids here will end up wearing the same clothes." statement It is an emotion-packe- d in an emotion-packe- d atmosphere. Its shock value serves a worthwhile purpose, the theory being that convicts telling their personal stories may be able to prevent from turning to a life of crime. The idea is relatively new, but in only a few years the practice has swept the nation. Today, in some 20 states, groups of convicts and prison travel throughout administrators their states, speaking to youths. It is often a grim and tragic story the hear. In Colorado a young inmate, John Gift, begins each of his speeches in the same manner. "My name is John Gift," he says calmly. "I'm servin' 70 years to life for blowing a man's brains out. I wanted to kill someone, and he was standing there." For a few moments of intense silence there are mingled stares of horror and disbelief. Then there is a deluge of questions. "Couldn't you control your emotions?" "Was this just a desire for thrills, for experience?" "Wasn't there anyone you could talk to when you felt like this?" The message these men carry is a simple one the truth: narcotics, murder, armed robbery, and burglary. They know all about it, and in each instance, the men tell how they became involved. They hope that perhaps the youngster might see a parallel in his own life and avoid making the same mistakes. Where this particular form of " rehabilitation first originated is uncertain. The idea seems to have formed in several prisons at just about the same time several years ago. But one thing is certain: teen-age- teen-age- teen-ager- s. that they can apply to their own." Each prison differs in its program almost as much as each prisoner differs in his story. Kansas has a prison choir group that travels over the state and performs before any organization where there are young people, speaking of their lives after each performance. Nebraska has a few men selected by prison officials, men who can best present the image of what prison is like. The men in Nebraska have made appearances on tv as well as at schools.- They estimate that they have spoken to more than 100,000 people in the last two years alone. - rs rs "self-help- 11 as requests for these men to speak at schools, churches, civic, and youth organizations continue to come in, the groups continue to grow in number. The themes of all the programs are the same: "There is no glory in crime. Don't follow me and waste your youth in prison, where it often takes two or more trips to realize how precious those years were that passed by so slowly." Nearly all of the states now participating in the programs have taken polls of the questions asked most often by the They range from the very basic to the Family Weekly, November 10, 1968 talk to, so we can't afford to lose them," says Dick Geiger. The inmates explain patiently why the drug habit leads only to disaster. These programs seem to have widespread support, and as one prison warden says, "This type of program is twofold. It gives the young people something to think about when they hear these stories, and it helps the criminal himself to shuck off his old values and to accept the values of free society the society he will have to identify with when he is released." Probably one of the rarest among these programs' dealing with youth is the one formed recently in Stockton, Calif. Pioneering the project there, a dozen or more young men between 18 and 22 were selected after intensive testing. During the last six months of their sentences, they are trained in counseling and work with younger boys at the California Youth Authority's O. H. Close School for Boys. While these men are working with the younger boys, they are also taking courses at Delta Junior College in Stockton and visiting nearby high schools for panel discussions on delinquency. All the training is financed by the state, and when the youths finish their sentences, they will be employed by the state to work in slum areas. It is difficult to measure the success of these groups, but, judging from the letters, there has been a tremendous influence often with a thank-yo- u note for "making me see something about myself I never saw before." Parents and teachers, especially, report on noticed changes in behavior patterns of those kids referred to as "borderline" cases. Perhaps the concept is gaining popularity because no one has dealt directly with the young person who has not yet committed a crime but who someday might. Whatever the reason, the men of these groups are making giant strides in the field of criminal reform. All they can do now is to wait and hope that they have saved a teen-agfrom joining them in prison garb. youth-counselin- At a Colorado high school, convicts "tell it like it is" to very important : What were the mistakes that caused you to turn to crime? Did you feel that getting good grades in school was a waste of time? How can we keep from going down the "road to nowhere" if we've already started? Dick Geiger, another member of the team in Colorado, says: "These kids really wart to know how it is. And some of the questions they ask really make you stop and think not just about them but about yourself, as well. When one of the kids ask me if I would have been a second offender had the punishment been more severe the first time, what can I say? It's always easier to commit the second crime. It goes a lot deeper than that, but we can't give them the 'whys' of crime. We're not trained for that. We just hope they'll see something in our lives teen-ager- s. Illinois brings the students directly to the prison to hear the men speak. Afterward, they tour the facilities. They see firsthand, while the horror of crime is fresh on their minds, the work areas, isolation areas, and the cellhouses where men sit idly. Never do the convicts admonish the youngsters if they should admit having had some experience on the wrong side of the law, especially when the discussions turn to drugs. "The first question about drugs is always the same," says John Gift. " 'I know this guy or I have a friend who . . .' I know immediately that this kid has had something to do with drugs." "We try to draw the kids out slowly when we think they're using drugs. We don't find many of them, but they are the ones we want to ... g er |