Literary Magazine
Testimony - A. Fletcher, Youth Participant, YAP Program
Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen;
My name is A. Fletcher and I am 16 years old. I started attending programming at CCA in September of 2007. Before doing so I was walking a very disruptive path in my life by beginning to follow the wrong friends during and after school. This was the only time that I had associated with any friends. My mom was not the type of person that let her children go hangout or go anywhere, she did not even let us sit in front of the apartment building or wherever we liked. She has always said that this is for our own good. She does the best she can to keep us from being in the wrong place at the wrong time. She used to say the only friend we have is our parents, along with our brothers and sisters. My mom is one of the toughest mom’s that I know, she is strict and will remain that way until she dies.
I was arrested for robbery and my mother received the phone call she was never hoping to get. She was furious, but stood by me because of her love for me. I was arrested and given a second chance at life by a Judge who allowed me to attend programming at CCA.
It was a bumpy road and I had many ups and downs for a while even getting in some trouble again. I spent a little bit of time in Riker’s, a place where it was “every man for himself” and I was attacked by another inmate. After I was released from Riker’s, I was immediately transported to Chicago by the Department of Homeland Security for unresolved immigration issues. My experience in detention was simply horrible.
When I returned home, these experiences made me realized that I really needed to make a positive change in my life. I sat back and thought to myself about all the dangerous things my mother used to warn me of. They were all happening to me. Everything started to replay itself in my head. I had been in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong company. I realized that I had to take advantage of the chance that the Judge gave me and really focus on the programs at CCA.
At CCA I have been able to “give back” by doing community service. I helped to clean up Fort Tyron Park at park day, I have volunteered to help people with disabilities and even worked at a soup kitchen. I am doing better in school and this past July I was named CCA Star of the Month.
CCA has helped me and many other young men and women become better people. It will continue to do so as long as its doors remain open to those who need help finding their future. I know that what I have to do is take time to learn and exercise the skills CCA has taught. It is places like CCA that ensure we have a better country. Without places like CCA there would be more crime because more people would be harmed by incarceration.
CCA staff made me feel welcome and at home. The afterschool programming and activities helped me. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to have attended CCA and am grateful to everyone involved in my case; my lawyer, my mom, my case managers, my court advocate, and Judge Padro.
Thank you.