WireTap

The following is an article that appeared orginally in WireTap magazine. For more information, visit www.wiretapmag.org.


Not Down with the Lockdown: Youth Speak Out Against SuperJail
By Suzy Khimm, WireTap
July 31, 2001

Mary Rubach is wincing.

"There's no need for this noise," she says in a clipped British accent. She appears to be in her early seventies, though I don't dare ask her exact age. "Shouldn't someone go up there and tell them to turn the speakers down?"

I shrug in sympathy. After three hours of blasting protest and lyrical celebration, my own ears have certainly been ringing.

But try telling that to this crowd -- the hundreds of folks who've come to Frank Ogawa Plaza in Oakland, protesting the construction of what may become one of the largest juvenile detention centers in the nation. Organized by Books Not Bars and the Youth Force Coalition, this "Summer Jam to Stop the SuperJail" is the biggest public gathering for the campaign thus far.

Alameda County officials have been pushing for two years to build a massive "Juvenile Complex" to replace its present 330-bed juvenile hall. The proposed structure would be the largest per-capita juvenile detention center in the country and may house 450 beds. It would be larger than the juvenile halls in Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Las Vegas, the largest of which has only 112 beds.

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