Positivity through poetry for youth in Utah’s juvenile justice system
Sep 18, 2024, 6:24 PM | Updated: 6:49 pm
FARMINGTON — Positivity in poetry. It’s one of the ideas behind a poetry program for youth in custody in Utah’s juvenile justice system. Youth learn to express themselves and pick up other life skills along the way.
Talking with youth in long-term custody at the Farmington Bay Youth Center, you’d be surprised what writing poetry could do. It may not be the first thing you think of for their rehabilitation, but it’s become an integral part.
Words of poetry, written by youth in custody in Utah’s juvenile justice system:
“I’m the broken pieces on the floor, Some people just ignore…”
Not just words of expression, but an outlet for stress some carry from their crimes and incarceration.
“So just getting that off of my chest and have people hear it, it just took some weight off chest you know, off my shoulders,” one youth said.
Locked up since he was 16, one youth now in custody at Farmington said it allows him to feel heard.
“So, in one way it helped you gain closure for the things you’ve been carrying with you?” Brian Carlson, KSL TV reporter, asked.
“Yeah,” he said.
His words are part of Utah’s 2022 Poetry Slam, a program now three years running from the Utah Division of Juvenile Justice & Youth Services, meant to help Utah youth like him find themselves.
“To identify a voice, to identify a skill set they may have, I’ve met with young people who’ve been involved in this poetry, and they didn’t know how gifted they were at writing for example,” Brett Peterson, director of Utah Division of Juvenile Justice & Youth Services, said.
Each child involved begins learning poetry at the beginning of the school year. Poets come in to mentor the youth in their writing, and they submit their work to the yearly Poetry Slam, published online and in a book where their accomplishment is celebrated.
“Any kind of pat on the back we can get on our journey of behavior change, that’s the golden ticket, that’s the stuff we’re looking for,” Peterson said.
For one young inmate, participating in poetry and other juvenile programs like painting and more, have helped him learn valuable patience in himself.
“That’s one thing that helped me be a better person today, being patient with myself instead of always rushing and always trying to get my way just then and there,” he said.
It’s a poetic trait he hopes will carry over when he leaves the Farmington facility and returns to society.
If you’d like to read some of the children’s poetry submitted from last year’s Poetry Slam, just click on this link to their poetry on the Utah Juvenile Justice Services’ website.
