Agencies address number of black youth incarcerated

From last October to December, 88 percent of the county’s juvenile detention population was male, and 94 percent of that population was African-American, said Judy DuBose, director of the Commission for Children, Youth and Families in the county’s family services division, one of the agencies on the council.

DuBose said the new group would examine what happens to juveniles from intake to detainment and look into diversionary and intervention programs to keep youths out of the system.

At a kickoff celebration for the group March 12 in Landover’s Prince George’s Ballroom, WKYS 93.9 FM disc jockey Rudy Davis talked about his experiences navigating the social service system. A native of Washington, D.C., Davis recalled a childhood of physical abuse from his mother and then moving from one group home to another from age 9 until adulthood.

Davis said he remembered only one group home counselor who listened to his problems. He said most of the people who supported his dreams of becoming a DJ were not in the social services system but at the radio station where he worked as he went back to school to earn his GED. Davis asked the crowd to think before they talk to their children and ask themselves if they are listening or ‘‘doing all the talking.”

‘‘We have to work on independent living,” Davis said. ‘‘We have to work on being mentors and creating opportunities for youth to express themselves and know what direction they want to go in. Once that happens, you need the proper supports and services to back that up.”

For instance, the Community-Public Awareness Council runs an intervention program in cooperation with the county. Juveniles charged with crimes like shoplifting and loitering sit before a panel of peers and adults who decide how they can make it up to their community without getting the juvenile justice system involved, director Phil Lee said.

Since the group began last April, C-PAC has heard 68 cases. Of those youths, 40 still receive follow-up mentoring. Only one has been rearrested.

Lee, who also sits on the minority council, said the school system needs to be more involved, particularly on truancy. Students who attended the county’s March 8 truancy summit at Prince George’s Community College said they are bored in school because they are not being taught anything and want to see more vocational programs offered, Lee said.

‘‘If everybody doesn’t come to the table, we’re going to continue to send our children to jail at disproportionate rates because they have not been properly educated,” Lee said.

A. Gregory Beard said he teaches the county curriculum to a class of 31 students, 29 of them black males, at the county’s Department of Corrections in Upper Marlboro.

‘‘One of the things we’ve been concerned about, once we get these juveniles focused, we need the assistance of all these organizations that are here to pick up,” Beard said. ‘‘Mr. Lee is a perfect example of people who can step up and can take them on, if they don’t they come back to see us.”

Capt. Rex Barrett, commander of the county police’s Youth and Family Services Division, said providing alternatives is key. Also a member of the minority council, Barrett said the Police Athletic League offers basketball to children in all six police districts and is getting ready to offer other sports.

‘‘What we find when we speak to youth and juveniles is that they’re bored, there’s nothing to do,” Barrett said. ‘‘A lot of them say ‘I want to play basketball but the net’s broken.’”