Maryland
After much uproar from Baltimore City residents and community leaders, a $104 million juvenile detention facility is still scheduled to be built in East Baltimore.
But not without a fight. Hundreds gathered at Dunbar High School’s football field to protest the jail’s construction at an event the Rev. Heber Brown III and youth organizers from Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle, Baltimore Algebra Project and others deemed Youth Justice.
They demanded that funding for the youth jail be redirected to schools, parks and recreation, mentorship programs and other outlets to nurture youth before they commit crimes. The two-hour rally was culminated by a fervent march to the proposed jail site. Yelling “liberation not incarceration,” the predominately adolescent protestors used bolt cutters to peel away the chain fence to the property and planted signs that read “Money for jobs and education, not jails.”
