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Stories From Young Men Behind Bars - The Microphone - Speak your mind. Tell your story.

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Stories From Young Men Behind Bars

Stories From Young Men Behind Bars

We have spoken about them a lot - when they've jacked cars, burgled homes or rioted - but rarely have we heard from the teenagers in our juvenile jails.

The students of Parkville College, the school that educates young people in detention, wrote letters that formed the school's submission to the parliamentary inquiry into youth justice centres.

Here are their voices.

Some were as young as 11 when they were first locked up

"When I first came into Parkville I was 11. It was 2015. I was so scared I thought I was going to get raped. I have spent most of my life inside."

"I was 12 years old in 2015 when I first came to Parkville. I was scared. My time here has affected me because I have spent more time in Parkville than outside."

Food, education, jobs, structure, family. Many didn't have that on the outside

"School on the inside is great, my first time in three years. I finally get an education, I can't wait to  continue school on the outside."

"Parkville makes it worse because you like it in here ... You get food on the inside, kids don't get food on the outside."

"If you grow up in a family or community where crime is normal and violence is normal, you grow up thinking that's what life is meant to be like. By the time you realise its not, you're kind of already in that world and you're doing things that are really hard to stop doing."

"Sometimes you know you're never going to have anything, because you've got no job, no hope and so sometimes you just take things."

"There's a thrill in doing this stuff. We're teenagers and we don't always think; we just go along with stuff and if you haven't really had anyone to show you the right way, you do things the wrong way."

"You want to fit in, to belong and if that's what all of your friends are doing, you do it  too… things start small and it gets really hectic really quick."

"I know what it is like to grow up living with parents and getting hit on a daily basis."

It can get violent in there

"I have had people bullying me and hitting me and sexually assault me."

"Can't escape bad models, bullying and being transgender in a female's unit...  NO!!! NO!!! There are no good things about being locked up."

"Having to think every second 'am I going to get jumped?' or 'can they me my real friends?'"

"I have witnessed a lot of violence in here and this made me think more violently."

Many were on drugs on the outside

"You use drugs and then you need money to get more so you do awful shit that you  shouldn't and then you feel ashamed of what you've done and so you think it doesn't  matter any more so you do more of the bad shit that makes you feel shame and then you end up in here."

"There are some good things about being locked up, yes, to help you get clean from drugs."

Many were on drugs on the outside

"You use drugs and then you need money to get more so you do awful shit that you  shouldn't and then you feel ashamed of what you've done and so you think it doesn't  matter any more so you do more of the bad shit that makes you feel shame and then you end up in here."

"There are some good things about being locked up, yes, to help you get clean from drugs."

There are good things - like school and psychologists

"School on the inside brings a new challenge everyday and it gets exciting and makes you wanna learn about things you have never learnt before."

"I see a psychologist and I believe they help with self‐confidence and how to make you help yourself as well as others. The psychologists come every week to see you and they are there to talk to you when you're in need or need someone to talk to."

But some feel really alone

"I always feel sad here. I feel like I'm losing my family every day I'm in here – like I'm disconnecting from them while I'm here. I feel lonely."

They are listening to what's being said about them on the outside

"Young people who commit crimes are put in stereotypes in the media – we sound worse than we really are. They make it over dramatic. They stereotype black people, Aboriginal people."

"I personally feel like the media label us as terrifying and bad people and that people should fear for  their lives...I made a mistake...when I leave I am going for my  learners, getting a house and I have a job. So am I really a bad person? "

"Everyone says were all bad people. We're not; we just do silly things when we're out. I don't feel like my voice is being heard really, no one really cares. That I'm nice but I just do silly things when I'm out." (Grevillea unit)

They have good ideas about how to make it better on the inside

"Critical incidents could be avoided by workers using verbal communication when de-escalating.  The safety and security of staff and young people at Parkville and Malmsbury can be maintained by changing the strict rules, [and with] more DHHS across the centre more."

"If there were riots, I would take the kids out that caused them and I would put them in a unit with nothing, no matter what culture they are."

"It would be helpful to have a legal aid lawyer on site at Parkville or Malmsbury to talk about our crimes and give advice to us."

"I think bigger premises and more units would be helpful. More staffing so we are not locked in our cells all the time. No staff = no school."

They also have plans for their own futures

"I'm going to strive to face big challenges and courses that others would never think of and would also influence clients on the inside to become better on the outside."

"I now want to go live with my mum and do school."

But for others, that future is harder to see

"I don't think about how I want to be on the outside. Because there are too many things here, bothering me, stressing me out, that I can't plan for my future. In here it's the hardest, because everyone's trying to be the  hardest, the toughest."

"All the exact same people and situations are still there; nothing has really changed ...When you decide while you're at Parkville that you're not to get caught up in all that shit again and then you try when you get out but you fail; that is the worst feeling, you feel like nothing and then you don't care anymore, you just give up."

"Thank you for reading my story," teenager in Malmsbury.

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