Shenaya, 16, couldn’t seem to follow prison rules. She was always angry, always getting into fights. As a result, she always ended up in administrative segregation, where she was denied programming, visits, and she was locked up 23 hours a day by herself. She would scream, yell, and cry to the guards to let her out, but when they came, she would spit at them or hit them, earning her another 30 days in seg. After spending the better part of her 16th solitary lockdown, she began therapy sessions and a writing class. She began to tell her own story, one full of trauma, abuse, and anger – including anger at being taken from her family, first by the foster care system and later by the prison system. She learned to speak about her anger instead of just acting on it. Now she works in the library, ticket free.

See More: Please go to Chapter Eight in “THE JUSTICE IMPERATIVE”