Families and Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children (FFLIC) is committed to uplifting the voices of youth in advancing narrative change and transforming the youth justice system into a holistic model of care. As part of our work, in 2022 we invited young people to express their thoughts and ideas in creative form about the school-to-prison pipeline and youth justice system. We are now featuring the students’ work on our blog and in our newsletters and social media through February 2023. To protect the youth, some of the images of youth utilize stock images and are not the actual youth winners.
Jailbird
by Jha’kyla
(Summer Slam Runner-Up)
World without prisons is like my red bean without my chicken. Jailbirds fly free when birds fly near trees to get away from the chaos near beneath. But what is a world without chaos? Chasing freedom is like running around with my head off. We chase dreams like we can’t sand the man off. Like I’m not cold with my profession like Jack Frost working hard to get away from being a “jailbird’s.” When they let us all up we will all hear, “you can restart your life and make a new chapter .” Why wasn’t my chapter new from the start? But life without prisons will be my fresh restart. That’s why a world without prisons would be a spy with no mission. Senseless.
Jha’kyla is sixteen. She describes herself as “a funny outgoing person.” She says, “I want to be outside and listen to music.”