That night, the staff member was in my room all night, he took my clothing and had it in a bag, and my shoes, to keep me from trying to run again, I did not sleep, waiting for a chance to run again, the chance never presented itself. At 6:30 in the morning, it was breakfast time, I was given some clothing to put on and escorted to the dining hall. I got to eat, and when I was done eating, I was escorted to the front office. Waiting for me was a Wayne County sheriff’s deputy, I was told to put my hands behind my back, and then I was handcuffed for the first time. The officer drove me to the Wanye County Juvenile Detention Center in Detroit, Michigan. We got to a 6-story building, we went inside where steel doors were everywhere, bars for doors on other rooms, bulletproof glass or safety glass everywhere. I asked the officer where my dad was, he told me that my dad knew where I was, and that I could call him later. I asked him why I was there, he told me that I was being charged with Assault and Battery He proceeded to run the booking process, took my fingerprints again, took a picture, asked me my address and dad’s phone number, asked me about any scares or distinguishing marks on my body, I showed him my hand, he then directed me to another officer, and told me that I was going to be striped searched.
I was escorted to another room, where there was a bench and a shower, the officer told me to get undressed, I hesitated, he then asked me what I’m waiting for, I didn’t know what to do, I just stood there. He then told me if I didn’t undress, that he and two other officers would do it for me. I took off all my clothes and stood there, the officer instructed me to open my mouth and stick my tongue out, he looked inside my mouth, told me to lift my testicles, then told me to turn around and lift my feet up to see the bottom of my feet, then to grab my butt cheeks and bend over and spread them. At this point I was not comfortable but I did what I was told to do, I was standing there crying and shaking, the officer told me that I needed to get into the shower, he gave me a little bar of soap, that smelled strange, and told me that I had to wash my hair with the shampoo on the shelf. (lice shampoo) I took a shower and did what was asked of me. He gave me a set of clothes, and shoes, told me to get dressed, and then to sit on the bench. A few minutes later another officer told me to step forward, he gave me a roll, which had a towel and wash cloth, 2 sheets and a blanket, and told me to stand with my back to another wall, it seemed like forever my I was eventually told to follow another officer. He walked me to another room told me to go inside and have a seat, the room was filled with a bunch of other kids some my age, most of them older, I sat down and kept to myself, other kids were asking me why I was there, I told them I got into a fight with my school principal. About 2 hours later, an officer came to the door and called my name, told me to follow him. I got up and walked behind him to an elevator, we got on the elevator and went to the 2nd floor. We got off the elevator, and went through a steel door, the officer had a conversation with another officer, gave him a piece of paper and left. The officer at the desk gave me a room number and told me to go drop my stuff off, and to come back and see him.
Quick description of the building and the floors, Gound floor was intake, 1st floor was administrative offices and hearing rooms, 2nd floor was for the younger kids regardless of charged crimes, 3rd floor was older kids with property crimes, 4th floor was older kids with drug charges, or gang charges. 5th floor was for older kids with violent crimes, the 6th floor was for older kids that committed murder or homicide.
I looked around, there were kids everywhere, chairs in front of a TV on one side of the room, then on the other side a ping pong table, the officer told me my room was down the hall, and pointed to a wedge shaped hall way, with doors on each side, I walked down the hall, there were kids standing in the middle of the hall with their arms held up straight out in front of them, there was also a kid sweeping the hall with a big dust mop, I found my numbered room and went to open the door it was locked, then it buzzed and it opened, It had a window with a very thick heavy steel screen over it, there was a light, but no switch, and a button on the wall. The walls were cinderblock, and the bed was a slab of steel. With a thin mattress on it, I dropped the stuff in my hands off on the bed and walked back down the hallway to where the officer was.
I got back to the officer, and he asked me if I had ever been there before, I said no, he told me some rules and gave me a sheet of paper with rules on it, one of the rules was at nighttime no shoes or pants inside the rooms. To put your shoes and pants outside the door on the floor. Rules about the TV viewing area, and no more than one person in a room at a time. The kids in the hall holding their arms out were in punishment time outs, there were about 40 kids on this floor, all about the same age range as myself. My first night there was extremely cold, the blanket was thin, and I had no pillow.
The next morning, I was woken up and told that I had court after breakfast, breakfast was served where the ping pong table was, afterwords me and another kid was escorted to the elevator, we went down to the first floor and put in a holding room. About an hour later I was taken from the holding room to a hearing room. I entered the room and saw my Dad sitting there, as well as Debbie, I was advised of my rights and of the charges, of Assault and battery, as well a Petition from the State of Michigan, Wayne County prosecutor’s office, to gain legal and physical custody of me, (A ward of the State). The hearing administrative judge found cause to bind me over for trial, as well as ordered an investigation to award custody to the state.
The process to award custody of a child to the State involved investigation of the family dynamics, criminal history, psychological history as well as further consultations, it was not a short process, it took months to complete, during this process, I was also back and forth to court for hearings, I pled guilty to the charges, but it still took forever to get through the process. At every hearing my dad with Debbie was there. At my sentencing hearing for the Assault and Battery charge I was remanded to the Detention center till the resolution of the Petion to award custody to the State. At one of the Petition hearing my mom tried to get custody of me, she had my grandfather, grandmother, and 2 of my aunts with her. I pleaded with the judge to allow me to go home with them. At this point the damage was already done, he was awarding custody of me to the State of Michigan till my 18th birthday, I was now part of the Department of Social Services.
During the 6 or so months I spent in the Juvenile center, I turned 11 I had visits from my dad with Debbie in tow once or twice, I told him I didn’t want her there, which meant he didn’t come to visit me as much, my mom brought my sister a few times to visit. There was schooling that we had to attend every weekday, so visits were allowed on the weekends. I got into 4 or 5 fights while I was there, fights usually came about because of the TV or food. Most fights in general happened in individual rooms, away from the corrections officer, you would have a beef with another kid, and tell them to met you in your room, my first fight ended up against 2 boys, I learned that you don’t go into someone else’s room for a fight, either do it out in the open or your own room. Out in the open, you’re going to get caught, but it will take the corrections officer about 4 minutes or so to get back up to the floor to stop the fight because he couldn’t leave the control desk. And depending on how many friends the guy you’re fighting has willing to jump in is also a risk, during one fight I had my front upper tooth broken in half, I got kicked in the mouth by a kid that wasn’t involved in the fight. He was what I considered a food bully, during mealtimes, he would ask other weaker kids for an item off their trays, in a I’m going to take it type of way, we had a run in a few days before, and I did not give him my cornbread, after he broke my tooth, I had him on my target list, I spent 3 days in my room for fighting, my trays were delivered to my room, he didn’t get in trouble for kicking me.
The first day after I got out of room lock down, I knew what I was going to do to him, he was 12 and bigger than me, and I knew I needed to have an equalizer if I was going to fight him, that night at dinner time he got a tray and sat down next to me, and started to make fun of the broken tooth in my mouth, he told me that I wasn’t going to be able to eat my apple, and reached onto my try and took it from my tray. These trays were about 18 inches long and 12 inches wide, stainless steel, not too thick but stamped and formed into sections. He was laughing and turned his head to laugh and get his approval from his friends. I grabbed the tray and stood up and as he was turning his head back to me, I swung the tray as hard as I could into his face, it was like his nose exploded, he fell back onto the floor and I dropped the tray and jumped on him and just started punching him as fast and as hard as I could, we were rolling on the floor when the officers got to us, we were separated and he was taken to the nurses station. I was put into my room, the next day I was moved to the 5th floor. Where the bigger and older more violent kids were, about a week later I was charge with another count of assault and battery for the fighting incident. Which didn’t really mean anything to me at that point I was already a ward of the court till I was 18
After I was made a Word of the Court/State, I was assigned a Social Services case worker, he his name was John, he seemed to be a very nice guy with a genuine interest in trying to find me help, but he had his hands tied with what to do with me, on our first meeting he said that he was working on finding a placement for me. About 3 weeks after our first meeting, he had a placement for me, he told me that tomorrow he would be back to pick me up. He showed up in the morning, and I had to go through the release process at the detention center, which consisted of a lot of waiting for checks to be run, and paperwork. I changed into the clothing I had on when I was placed in the detention center, my dad had picked up the rest of my personal property months ago. I got into John’s car and we drove and talked, he took me to a store and bought me a few more sets of clothing, he was in contact with my dad, he then drove me to my next placement, which was a group home, with about 15 kids max, the program was a treatment based program with counselor’s and group meetings, all of which happened after school days and on Saturdays. It was in the city of Detroit.
In the program you had to tell your life story in a group meeting, when you were comfortable to do it, to the whole group, this would be a normal program requirement of the programs I was placed into during the 1980’s, during your life story the counselor or group leader, would write down your problems. the counselor or group leader would make a list and it would look something like this.
Inconsiderate to self Inconsiderate to others Anger control
Impulse control issues, Drug or alcohol addiction Lack of self-worth
This is just an example of the possible listed problems there were many other options to put on a work sheet. During the treatment program you were required to work each problem, and when you felt you had a handle on the problem you would be kind of tested in a group meeting setting, that you could identify the problem, and an appropriate way to respond or deal with said problem, during my life story, I did not talk about the sexual assault on me, I did not want anyone to know about it, the Group leader did know about it, as it was in my juvenile file, but the group leader did not disclose that information to the group of my peers, the topic was brought up in a one on one sessions with the group leader, but even in that environment I was not comfortable enough to talk about it. This group of my peers consisted of kids up to the age of 16, I was a few months away from my 12th birthday so John placed me there because it was the only program that would accept me at that age. I was doing good in the program, a month after my 12th birthday, things changed for the worse, me and an older kid were playing pool in the rec room, and got into an argument about if I called my shot, he got into my face, and I swung the pool cue and hit him in the head with the end of it, it knocked him out cold, he hit the floor, and I knew at that moment I was in trouble, I wasn’t going back to the Detention center, I ran to the side door where my coat and stuff was hanging and took off from the Group home. I was a few blocks from the group home when I heard the sirens of the ambulance, I didn’t know at the time that it was for him, but I saw it rushing down Dexter Avenue, about a month later I found out he ended up in the hospital for a closed head injury. I just kept walking away from the area, my plan at this point was to get back to my home city, which I knew, places I could hide, friends I could get help from, I made it to a gas station by the freeway, and was asking people for a ride to Taylor. A white guy in his 30’s said he was going to Taylor and could give me a ride. He was carrying a case of beer. We got into the car, and he started driving. He asked me to reach back and give him a beer from the back seat, I did and then he told me I could have one. I opened the beer and had a drink, not my first time, my dad used to have me get beer for him from the refrigerator when I was home, I would always open it and sneak a sip. But I had never had a whole beer, I told him I was a runaway, and really was just trying to get back into my home area, he asked me if I had a place to stay, and I said not really, he told me I could hang out at his house, which was at an apartment complex on the south end of Taylor by the Southland mall, which I knew the area as well. By the time we got to his apartment I was working on my second beer, he was on his 4th. I was drunk at this point, he had pizza ordered and delivered, and we sat down and drank and watched a movie on VHS, I remember waking up on the couch, and he was rubbing my leg, I sat up and puked on his living room table, I went to the bathroom and puked more into the toilet, I came out and asked him where the bedroom was and stumbled to the bedroom. I fell into the bed and looked at the ceiling and it was spinning, then I passed out again.