R.I. grapples with faulty teen jail bill

from Yahoo News

By RAY HENRY, Associated Press Writer

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - When 17-year-old Dennys George was arrested this summer, allegedly for carrying 10 grams of crack cocaine, he was taken handcuffed and shackled to the state prison's high-security wing — not a juvenile facility.

George said he was strip-searched and spent the night in a cell with another teen. Though he didn't have contact with older inmates, he wouldn't shower because he was afraid of being near them.

"They told me, 'You're going to spend some time with the big boys,'" George said, recounting a talk with police. "I was so stressed, I didn't even know what was going to happen to me."
George is one of about 40 teenagers who have been jailed in the state prison under a new law that treats 17-year-olds as adults in the court system. Billed as a way to save money, youth advocates, judges and the attorney general sounded the alarm early that the proposal might actually be more expensive, and could hurt children.

Now, four months after the measure passed the Legislature, state officials admit their mistake: It's unlikely to cut costs, it has created confusion in the court system and it is imprisoning teenage offenders who might have been sent home with their parents instead.

State officials say it happened because the chain of people responsible for the proposal — who drew it up, signed off on it, forwarded it to lawmakers and voted it into law — never thoroughly researched it and ignored warnings. Now, they're pointing fingers, and grappling with how to fix it.

Fox Snooze says:

Let's get this straight...Smoking Crack doesn't stress you out but being in jail does. We have a solution: "Don't Smoke Crack"

Dennys George should just be thankful that the headline doesn't read "R.I. Inmates Grapple with Faulty Teen"