Terrell Townsend, a former juvenile delinquent, rediscovered a love of learning and got back on track at a state-of-the-art school in a juvenile prison. Lauren Drell/MNS
WASHINGTON—Terrell Townsend is a soft-spoken 16-year-old boy, just over 5 feet tall. He lives with his aunt in northeast Washington, and he attends school at the Maya Angelou Public Charter School.
What you wouldn’t know by looking at him is that he’s also a convicted felon, and he did time at a juvenile detention center.
“I tried not to think about what I did to get in there, I was thinking about how to get out,” said Terrell.
On any given day, there are about 90,000 youth in juvenile correctional facilities. Nonprofits who work with at-risk youth, like the Coalition for Juvenile Justice, advocate for community programs and education to reform offenders and prevent recidivism, or relapse into crime, in this population.
James Forman, Jr., a law professor and public defender, and corporate lawyer David Domenici, who had worked with at-risk kids, launched the Maya Angelou Academy in 2007 to address the problem. It’s a school for troubled youth within a juvenile detention center in Laurel, Md., one that had ineffective predecessors.
Domenici and Forman had too often seen skeptics dismiss juvenile offenders, saying it’s “too late for them,” but they knew that wasn’t the case. They knew the juvenile justice system could do better with at-risk, poverty-stricken minority youth. Domenici said the average kid at the Maya Angelou Academy is 16 and is at least five years behind in school. The mentality at the academy is not that it’s too late, but there’s just more to catch up on—socially and academically—to break the cycle of recidivism.
A sign on the wall at the school bears a Victor Hugo quote: He who opens a school closes a prison. It couldn’t be more appropriate.
“Our goal is to get them the skills they need, and in a sense, bolster them, so when they leave here, they’ll try to get some traction at living a different life and making significantly different decisions,” Domenici said.
Terrell Townsend was 15 when he entered the juvenile detention center. He spent 8 months progressing through the six required levels. He had to learn to control his anger, respect authority and regain a love of learning. Out of prison, he enrolled at a public charter school that was also founded by Forman and Domenici as part of the Maya Angelou schools.
“You see him on the cusp of getting traction at [a public] school,” says Domenici.
“Terrell knows his role as a leader, he’s very respectful of the teachers and his classmates,” said Marian White-Hood, principal of Maya Angelou Public Charter School’s Evans campus.
Indeed, Terrell’s been out of juvenile prison for less than seven months so it’s hard to make long-term predictions about his trajectory. He said he’s on a good path, and his counselor Troy Waller agreed, adding that Terrell’s transition to public school has been outstanding.
So far, Terrell’s story is one example where education has helped to prevent recidivism.
Terrell made this video, My Life and Community, while at New Beginnings.