Mentoring Resources

To offer at-risk youth a taste of prison reality.

OVERVIEW

Partners in Prevention, an Oklahoma group committed to discouraging at-risk youth from a life of incarceration, arranges for youth an overnight stay in prison.

PROGRAM GOALS

According to project organizer Ester Holzendorf, the aim is " ‘to impact the kids with the reality of what it is to do time. Penitentiaries are not glamorous.’ " Adds Holzendorf, the program targets young persons " ‘who haven’t really turned yet...to heavy crime but are heading that way.’ "

PROGRAM METHODS

Students arrive at a state prison on a Friday night (in this situation, it was the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester), and are matched with a counselor from Partners in Prevention when checked into the prison. The participants are fingerprinted, given prison attire, and photographed. They then dine at a nearby correctional center cafeteria. The evening becomes grim when each student is moved into his or her individual cell.

The mentors join the students later in the evening for "one-on-one discussions about their own situations and feelings shortly before the group is moved to an employees’ recreational area for a few hours sleep." At 5:30 a.m., the Saturday morning wake-up call ushers in a trip to a mule barn. An unarmed guard then chauffeurs the group to a day of community service work at a local landfill.

Before leaving prison, certificates of participation are awarded to the students. The counselors maintain contact with the participants in follow-up sessions.

PROGRAM OPERATION

The Partners in Prevention project coordinator, Ester Holzendorf, is also a regional civil rights administrator for the Oklahoma Corrections Department. It is essential that the project leader be actively involved with the corrections system. Program modifications are necessary on a state-by-state basis.

PROGRAM TESTIMONIES

This new program has not existed long enough to communicate its successes and failures.

Source: Johnson, S.D. (1996, January 18). Prison gives kids taste of reality: Youths due to spend night behind bars. The Daily Oklahoman, p. 10.

IMPLICATIONS

1. At-risk youth are difficult to reach. By the time they are in school, their lives are often entrenched in dysfunction and appear doomed. It is hoped that shock value will somehow frighten these kids into straightening out their lives.
2. At-risk youth often do not have the skills necessary for creating healthy lifestyles. They need constant support and education, firm reprimand, and boosts of self-esteem. Never assume that can a juvenile delinquent can behave correctly on his or her own. They can learn; it just takes time and patience.
3. Saving a young person from a life of crime is a valiant service. In our tumultuous society, one needs to address the causes and needs of at-risk youth.
4. Youth workers can serve as potent role models for at-risk youth. Troubled teens yearn for positive mentors. But youth workers, unless specially trained, cannot expect to save "at-risk" youth without extensive and existing support.

Kathryn Q. Powers cCYS

Fine, G.A. (1979). Preadolescent socialization through organized athletics: The construction of moral meaning in little league baseball. In Krotee, M.L. (ed.). The Dimensions Of Sociology (pp. 79-105). West Point, NY: Leisure Press.

OVERVIEW

Twenty million children between the ages of eight and sixteen play organized sports outside of school, and their experience has an enormous impact on their physical, emotional, and social development. Athletics is the fundamental American way of rearing young people. However, while proponents suggest that children’s participation in organized youth sports is basic to their learning the ideals of moral behavior, this study shows that children are, instead, learning the rhetoric of moral behavior. While coaches stress the importance of effort, sportsmanship, and teamwork, what really matters is the performance on the ball field, or more specifically, winning.

DESIGN

The data were compiled through anecdotal observation of five Little League organizations in New England and Minnesota. In addition, players, coaches, and parents were interviewed, and questionnaires were distributed to the players.

FINDINGS

• In coaching sessions, coaches often emphasize the importance of effort and "hustle," adding that those characteristics are most important in the game. However, in specific situations, effort, or a lack of effort, is directly linked to the success or failure of the team.
• While coaches generally begin the season with the admonition to be "good sports," in certain circumstances—particularly during a close game—unsportsmanlike behavior is accepted.
• While teamwork is stressed to discourage individual player glory, its presence or absence is directly correlated with the team’s success or failure.
• Although proponents of Little League baseball suggest that players learn how to deal with winning and losing, the coaches tend to be more concerned with their win-loss record.

IMPLICATIONS

1. Before involving their children in youth sports, parents must examine and evaluate their own feelings about winning and losing—which are often influenced by frustrations in other areas of their lives.
2. The philosophy of coaching must put the players first, winning second. A good coach cares about his/her athletes and shows it through the whole coaching experience, not just on the playing field.
3. Children must be taught that moral statements are absolute, not situationally determined. This needs to be illustrated in all areas of life so kids do not become compartmentalized in situations such as athletics.