Today’s statistics show that teens with only one parent are 25 times more likely to commit suicide, 10-15 times more likely to get involved with drugs and/or gang activity, and 17 times more likely to become violent and become involved with the criminal justice system by the age of 13.
As for me, I am a part of today’s statistics. Right now, as you are reading this article, I am sitting in the female unit of the Texas Juvenile Justice Department (T.Y.C.) This was a result of my poor choices if life when I was 13 years old.
I am now 16 years old, graduated from high school, and a certified welder!
Never did anyone in Port O’Connor think that I would have been a certified welder, let alone a high school graduate. I was going to be the girl who was 16 with two kids and another on the way, dropping out of high school to take care of a family by myself, OR the girl you hear about in the evening news who was just found dead in a ratty old hotel room with a needle stuck in her arm.
But once I came to TJJD/TYC, my life got turned upside down! I went from being one of the worst teenage drug addicts to making straight A’s in all my classes, working a program for drug treatment, and finding a trade that I’m not only good at, but have a true passion for!
And of all people, if I could do this, anybody can. It just takes the want, will, and determination to finally achieve your goals. As for me, I would not have got as far as I am today if I wouldn’t have come to TJJD/TYC.
But places like this are not where anyone wants to be! It’s cold, very far from family and friends, and the worst part is…it’s out in the middle of nowhere next to a bunch of open fields and pastures. So there is no real connection to the outside world other than getting mail and visits from people we love and care about.
Sounds real “fun”, doesn’t it? Sounds real “cool” to be locked up with no way out?
Now it’s up to you to make that choice and look at where it has gotten me in life: Nowhere but in a cell with cement shelves and metal mirrors.
The choice is yours. I just hope you can make the right one before it’s too late and end up like me, sitting in jail for the second year in a row, missing all the holidays where families are meant to be together, not separated.
Just keep in mind…
The choice is yours!
Local incarcerated youth,
Dallas Fowler
