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| Inmates Speak About the Consequences of Poor Choices |
| By Rhode Island Department of Corrections |
| Published: 10/06/2011 |
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CRANSTON, R.I. – Rhode Island Spanish-speaking residents might be surprised to hear inmates speaking about their lives and giving positive messages to young adults when they turn to 1290 AM, Latino Public Radio on Saturday mornings. The program titled Our Youth is the brainchild of Maggie Picot, the host of the Saturday morning radio show and Administrator of Community Confinement for the Department of Corrections. For approximately nine weeks beginning later this fall, her program will feature an inmate from one of the state’s prison facilities in Cranston. Our Youth comes at a time when Hispanics are overrepresented in the inmate population. Its goal is to keep Rhode Island Hispanic youth away from a life of crime and thus the prison system. The main message to young people, according to Picot, is that “crime doesn’t pay.” Reinaldo Almonti, Station Manager for Latino Public Radio, is fully supportive of the series. “It will help families to better understand what’s going on with their youth,” he says, “and will serve as an educational tool for our listeners.” He says it’s a reality that teens get into trouble, and hearing the testimonials of the inmates will hopefully serve as a deterrent to them. The station recently ran a promotional piece introducing the series and, according to Almonti, received about 3,000 calls from listeners wanting to know when it will air. The nine male and four female inmates involved with the series were all carefully screened and come highly recommended by correctional staff. The criteria in selecting these offenders include a discipline-free incarceration history, employment in the facilities, and participation in institutional programs. One of the inmates, for instance, is involved with the NEADS/Dogs for Deaf and Disabled Americans program where inmates train assistance dogs for people with disabilities. Inmates who are working to better themselves in prison are best suited to express to young adults how even when poor choices have led to crime and imprisonment, there is still hope and the opportunity to turn one’s life around. The inmates’ real names will not be used nor will be details about their crimes. Parents will also benefit from the series, according to Picot, as “there are a lot of positive messages for them; regarding the impact of growing up with or without discipline in the home and many other issues where the parents are at least partially at fault, intentionally or not.” Picot plans to follow up the series of inmate interviews with a series for victims of crime. She has invited heads of various victim service agencies to speak about available services for victims of crime. She has also lined up mothers who will discuss the painful loss of a child to violence. “This series will be very sad,” says Picot. “I personally know many parents who have lost loved ones to murder, and they often blame the lack of discipline in the home for their young teens’ involvement with gangs and other illegal activities.” Latino Public Radio has been around for over 15 years and includes a staff of five as well as 25 or so volunteers, including Maggie Picot. In addition to its radio audience locally, the program has a solid audience outside of the U.S. via the Internet including such places as Colombia, Peru, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Chile, and the Dominican Republic. For example, in Maggie Picot’s hometown in Puerto Rico, two families with Internet connections gather their neighbors in their homes, invite outside speakers, and Maggie’s brother serves bread and coffee for them every Saturday as they sit on the floor and listen to the program. Within the U.S., the program’s reach through the worldwide web extents as far as Kentucky, New York, Chicago, and Florida to name a few places where listeners come from. Its call letters recently changed to WRNI 1290 A.M. and its reach now extends to half of Rhode Island. |
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