Bonnie Boswell Reports: The Arts for Healing and Justice Network

Improvements in the juvenile justice system have been a long time coming. The first time I saw a jail for children was when I worked as a researcher for a youth detention study with Harvard Law School. I received a tour of a local detention center and saw cells for children as young as eight years old. I was told that most of these young people had committed the “crime” of being a “runaway” or “incorrigible.” Years later, I spoke with a young woman at Central Juvenile Hall in downtown Los Angeles who told me she was a runaway. She didn’t elaborate on why she left home, but she said it was “because of things going on there.” I could only imagine.

Arresting young people has not led to positive outcomes for them. A 2013 Northwestern University study found that over 92% of the young people at Cook County Juvenile Detention Center in Chicago had experienced at least one trauma. A 2017 report by the California Division of Juvenile Justice showed 74% of incarcerated young people were re-arrested. And a study by The Imprint found that the annual cost per inmate in California had ballooned to $770,000 by 2020.

I’m relieved to see that things seem to finally be changing in the approach to juvenile justice. Seeing that the old punitive system was both costly and ineffective, California began to close juvenile facilities a few years ago. The effort now is to divert at-risk young people away from the justice system if possible and to keep them from returning to jail. Josh Green, Director of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Programs at the Urban Peace Institute, told Bonnie Boswell Reports that a care-based approach helps youth and creates safer communities. But the switch from a system based on punishment versus one based on recognition of past trauma requires well-funded “wrap around” resources and programs.

One of the most exciting programs I’ve come across in Los Angeles is the Arts for Healing and Justice Network (The Network). For my three-part series about The Network for Bonnie Boswell Reports, I spoke with CEO Elida Ledesma. Elida told me The Network is made up of thirteen member organizations that work both inside and outside of jails to help system-impacted youth. Elida says art gives young people a chance to process some of the trauma they’ve been exposed to in life.

Twenty-three-year-old Kevin Rodas is one person who has benefitted from these programs. Kevin told me when he was a child, his main role model was his older brother who was in and out of jail. Kevin’s mother worked 16-hour days to make ends meet and taught him to stay out of trouble, but his life just started going the other way. Why? “Because of the things I was feeling inside and the things I lived through.”

Kevin started “hanging with the wrong crowd” and eventually found himself in trouble with the law. But one day after he got out of jail, a friend told him about The Network. Kevin felt hesitant initially but eventually decided to try it. Through The Network, Kevin met Fabian Debora, the Executive Director of the Somos La Arte/Homeboy Art Academy. Fabian himself had early experiences with the juvenile justice system but then he found art, a healing force that grounded him. Kevin learned from Fabian and other young artists that art could be used productively, to process, create and communicate.

The Network’s Youth Leadership Manager, Julian Harris, said he has seen Kevin really open up and take a leadership role in the organization. Julian, who is only three years older than Kevin, says seeing this kind of transformation in people inspires him.

Kevin is now a success story by any measure. He has a job he loves, a new baby and his own apartment. He also sees the connection between his life and art. “When you’re painting or drawing something and you make a mistake, you get a little angry. But then there's ways to cover that up or blend it up. That’s kind of the same thing with my life. Low stuff would happen to me, and I used to get mad. But when I started this art program and saw people opening their arms towards me, I saw how life and art had similarities. A lot happens in life, but you got to use it as a motivation instead of an excuse.”

Kevin’s insight and the life he’s now built are a testament to the healing power of art.

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