PopSyndicate.com

The abandoned idea of genuine rehabilitation for young criminal offenders sorely needs revisiting, there is a clear pathway to that goal, and it has been proven in the real world.  When I was in the midst of doing the background research for my book The Road Out Of Hell: The True Story of Sanford Clark and the Wineville Murders (Sterling Publishing, Nov. 2009), I discovered a trove of enlightened thinking and methodology regarding juvenile criminal offenders – it is all the more impressive because it took place early in the 1920’s.

In the tiny desert community of Whittier, California, an inspired man named Fred C. Nelles took over operation of a youth penitentiary called the Whittier State School for Boys and single-handedly converted it from a Dickensian children’s gulag that employed torture devices such as the infamous “Oregon boot” into an institution dedicated to the meaningful rehabilitation of its youthful charges.  It became California’s leading reform school because Nelles entertained an unwavering belief in most people’s potential for goodness when they are provided with tools that maximize the better angels of their nature.  He went on to prove his theory to be right, and the tools that were provided to the youthful inmates were based in a solid general education and training in viable job skills.

The Whittier State School for Boys (now known as the Whittier State School) is related to my book’s story because its true-life protagonist, young Sanford Clark, was imprisoned there for two years from age fifteen to seventeen. He was fortunate enough to be sentenced to that place following the infamous “Wineville chicken ranch murders” in which he was forced to participate.  During his time there, his life was completely turned around and permanently changed for the better.  Jump ahead to today, while we keep on stacking more and more of our young people in prison – and at a steadily decreasing age – simultaneously lowering the ages at which we will try young offenders as adults and consider putting them away forever. 

The trend is no mystery, since our commercial media glorify every sort of deviant known, and raise many to international celebrity.  The phenomenon has resulted in a commensurate rise in the number of young people who no longer internalize useable social values and prefer to emulate morons who happen to be famous.  In a society where a prison sentence itself has become a bizarre badge of honor for so many young people, it is no wonder that there is a rash of repeat offenders who consider ethics and morals to be concepts valued by fools. 

The Whittier model, when applied to troubled boys and girls alike, could prove to be one of the most cost-effective ways for the public to invest in its own future, far simpler and more effective than handing out incomprehensible sums of money to bankers and business leaders who promptly divert the funds to their own nefarious ends.  We could offer America’s youth a livable world for the smallest fraction of the amounts that have already been tragically wasted.

I am not talking about coddling of hardened criminals. This is a plan to rescue young boys or girls who have been caught up in criminal activity but are still young enough to be turned in a better direction, given a workable opportunity.

The long-abandoned idea of genuine rehabilitation for young criminal offenders sorely needs revisiting.

The Whittier model – Fred C. Nelles designed a youth program that wasn’t “soft” on anybody—rather the prison’s programs focused on ignoring the particular crime that got a young inmate incarcerated.  Instead, Nelles was concerned exclusively with an inmate’s daily conduct.  Each boy went through a tightly structured program of school classes and constant job training.  Every moment of the day was centered on answering the all-important question: what will you do after being released? 

The grounds of the institution had no bars or fences.  In fact, the main grounds and buildings of the place looked like a college campus.  The boys lived in small groups in individual cabins, with an adult couple supervising each unit.  The young charges retained their personal desire to cooperate not merely because of the welcome lack of negative judgment, but because the tangible rewards offered to inmates who embraced the program.  They knew what they could expect if they failed to cooperate and got themselves transferred to a regular prison.  The goal was nothing less than that of saving their lives and restoring their personal dignity. 

This was no sentimental process of “self-esteem” boosting; respect was granted because respect was earned.  Unlike all but a few private examples of today’s youth-correction programs, graduates of Whittier tasted self-respect as it rises from the daily combination of acquired skill-work and usable schooling, followed by extended inmate monitoring after release.  The recipe prepared each individual for life as a standup citizen instead of the furtive existence of a criminal.

That is the focus that saved young Sanford Clark, and when he left there at the age of seventeen he had internalized its powerful message of responsibility and personal decency for the rest of his 78-year life span.  The strength and humanity of the Nelles system proved the power of education and training.

The program was expensive, however, and the economic woes of the Great Depression hollowed out its budget, and after Nelles retired, changes of leadership and executive philosophy caused its focus to wander. The California Youth Authority took control over it in 1943, and conditions continued to slide.  The C.Y.A. converted it to a standard juvenile lockup in 1988 and tried rehabilitation in short-lived attempts that ended in failure before they could be fixed.  Eventually social frustration over the idea that “nothing works” began to rise from the 1980’s through the 1990’s, culminating in the ultimate closure of the school by the State of California in 2004.  In February of that year, the New York Times described the conditions there:

“Youths with psychological problems are ignored or overmedicated, classes are arbitrarily canceled, and inmates or whole institutions are locked down for days or weeks at a time because of recurring gang violence, according to the independent experts, retained by the state after it was sued two years ago in a class action brought on inmates’ behalf.”

The house of Nelles’ vision stands empty today, available as a rented location for film shoots and awaiting a federal decision as to whether or not it will be used once again by the corrections system.  No matter how that goes, the Nelles system is unlikely to reappear there.  Worse yet is the fact that the Nelles model is not publicly adopted at all, any longer. This, to my mind, is a tragedy of the first order.  Our family structure stands shattered around us; values have to come from somewhere, or people tend to make them up as they go along.

Today we suffer similar economic woes to those of the people of the Depression era, leaving us to consider whether we want to repeat and compound the mistake of saving a relatively low public expenditure now at the cost of a lost generation later.  No matter how broke or even bankrupt a state may be, we know its people are going to find ways to fix roads, deliver water and food, deal with traffic and power and waste.  Surely any society that chooses to think of itself as a socially decent place will also hold the idea of saving a significant portion of an imperiled generation in high priority.  We have documented proof to point the way; the waking nightmare of past foolish thinking is made plain in the photographs of punishments that were visited upon children in an era barely out of living memory.

The question left to all of us is simple – would we rather see our future tax dollars being soaked up by shadowy “business people” who then mock us by spending it on private jet rides and luxury junkets?  Or might it be a smarter approach to invest in our youth instead of saddling them with their the debts of their forebears that nobody knows how they are supposed to repay?

Fred C. Nelles already knew the answer.  And after the revolting behavior of so many recipients of our massive “bail-out” programs, I suspect that many of us know the answer as well.

Some photos from the time:
 

Old-style reformatory “punishment position.”  (L.A. Public Library collection)
http://catalog1.lapl.org/cgi-bin/cw_cgi?resultsScreen+6933+1+10+0

The Oregon boot. (Guinness World Records Collection)
http://www.oregon.gov/DOC/OPS/PRISON/osp_history3.shtml

Whittier Trainees in the Dining Hall (Flickr photo collection)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ozfan22/3441001148/