They Create Monsters in Here

About two weeks ago, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city will no longer house minors in solitary confinement.  There is an ongoing argument about whether putting minors in solitary is "cruel and counterproductive." People argue that if they are shut away and treated that poorly as minors, they will end up acting more violently as they get older. “This is what they create in here, monsters,” one inmate said. “You can’t conduct yourself like a human being when they treat you like an animal.” If inmates are being treated like "animals" then that is all they know.  It gives them no chance to rehabilitate.  Perhaps if the jails concentrated on a method of rehabilitation and teaching the inmates, especially the minors, how to get a fresh start, "monsters" would not be created.  The adolescent years are key in shaping the person to who they will become. If we treat the minor inmates like animals and in such a cruel manner, that is how they will act.  

De Blasio Speaking with Young Inmates at Rikers Island

Mayor de Blasio said, “It’s our moral responsibility as humans not to create a situation where so many people have to experience so many difficult things,”  We are all human.  Despite our worst errors, we should all have a chance to learn from our mistakes and improve.  Minors have the rest of their lives ahead of them, if we can teach them by example, perhaps if and when they are released from jail, they won't turn to "monstrous" ways.  By eliminating a harsh treatment of minors, perhaps we are taking our moral responsibilities as humans and making things just a little easier.