Work beats prison
Redeploy Illinois keeps juveniles out of jail
JUVENILE JUSTICE | Holly Dillemuth
Three Decatur teens watch as a cloud of sawdust erupts from power tools operated by their wood shop instructor, Jim Taylor, in a warehouse used by Macon County Probation. For two hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays, these boys are like kids on summer break.
In reality, Jimmy Lee Gorsuch, Tylor Norman and Greg Reno, are all minors on probation, and are one step away from serving time in one of Illinois’ eight juvenile prisons. But thanks to the Redeploy Illinois program, instead of being locked up, the boys are close to family in their hometown. They get another chance to make restitution for the harm they have done.
Sangamon County doesn’t offer the program yet, but planning is underway. The quest for the Redeploy program in the capital city is part of a new statewide effort, complemented by legislation passed this year, to find alternatives to incarceration for troubled youth.
Program participants must be at least 13 years old, but most are 15 to 17 when judges refer them to the program. To qualify, a youth must not have committed a violent crime. The program’s goal is to give courts an option other than a juvenile prison sentence for youth who have committed nonviolent crimes like burglary and theft. Programs like the class Taylor teaches are part of an effort to help teens stay out of trouble. The Decatur program involves a network of social service agencies working together to keep offending youth out of juvenile prison.
“These kids are so much wanting to be respected,” says Taylor. “When you work with kids, there’s no cookie cutter that you can use.”
Jimmy Lee Gorsuch was a part of the wood shop class last year, but the class instructor ended his participation because he skipped too many school days. Even though he skipped school, he rarely missed Taylor’s wood shop class because he enjoyed it so much.
“We didn’t want to reward him for bad behavior because this was the only thing he liked doing,” says Taylor. Some of the kids may complain that they don’t feel like building a birdhouse, but Taylor adds: “You ought to see their eyes light up when they’ve completed something.”
Agencies form a task force to provide constant supervision, substance abuse counseling and mental health services, home intervention and life skills training as well as an anger management class. Someone is also available to drive teens to and from school, to court appointments or basketball at the YMCA. Success is measured in little things like attendance.
Before Taylor even picks up a power tool or has his students put on safety goggles, he and the boys gather around a table so they can talk. After a few minutes, Tylor Norman is already showing off his cell phone ring tones to Taylor. The hip-hop tune isn’t familiar, but Taylor listens anyway.
“They kind of start seeing you as nonthreatening. That’s why I don’t wear my probation badge or any of that. I try to just be a regular person. It gives them a chance to see a probation officer who’s not being a probation officer, necessarily,” he says. Although Taylor is not their probation officer, he works for the county and volunteers his time with the program, a better environment for them, he says, than they are getting at home or on the street.
Norman is a freshman at MacArthur High School in Decatur where he attends Trisha Isaac’s special education class, which has two students who are part of the Redeploy program, a program she describes as “for those kids who might have a chance.”
Isaac’s class is geared toward teens who have been suspended more times than their limit or have broken the law. Isaac is in constant contact with Tim Shelley of Love Christian Fellowship, a partner of the Redeploy program. Shelley stops by the class at least once a week to check in with Norman and to keep in contact with the students’ teacher to stay updated on their behavior.
Isaac says her students don’t want to let people down by getting in trouble, thanks to the program.
The teens keep busy during the summer helping elderly, disabled and low-income residents by working on their yards for free. Teens mow lawns and pull weeds for residents, sometimes as many as five to six lawns per day. They’re paid minimum wage by the program. Decatur resident Paula Rex cannot afford a lawn mower and appreciates the free service.
