EVERYONE NEEDS AN ERASER SOMETIMES

Phyllis Carter and Southern Poverty Law Center shared Southern Poverty Law Center's post.

Southern Poverty Law Center

"They take away your reading and writing materials when you're at your most vulnerable point in life. When your mind is still expanding. I still don't like being alone," said former juvenile inmate Alton Pitre.

In two dozen states, juvenile offenders can be put in solitary. Advocates want to change that.

Studies show kids held in solitary confinement experience long-lasting psychological damage.

PRI.ORG

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  Comments

  

  Phyllis Carter - One thing that might help a prisoner to survive in solitary is having books, paper and pencils - and erasers - because everyone makes mistakes. Years ago when I was young, I took a job doing the books (before computers) for a jeweler in Montreal. The "office" was in a dark, damp, cement basement on St. Catherine Street. It was a scene out of films noire, with one dim yellow light over a pile of ancient ledgers. An accountant was sent in to show me what to do. He was a heavy set man who smoked a stinking cigar. But he was nice enough. After he left, I found that I was expected to work in pen and ink and there was no pencil or eraser to be found. I went upstairs into the store and asked the owner for an eraser. He was shocked. He wanted to know why I was asking for an eraser. I said "Because I made a mistake." "But you can't make a mistake!" he exclaimed, as if I had shot him. I went back down into the basement, grabbed my purse, came flying up into the store and I was out the door and down the street like lightening. I feared I was dealing with a madman. I never turned back and I never asked for my pay. Who in life does not need an eraser sometimes ?
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