US prisoners create scholarships for students, trying to keep them out of jail

GRATERFORD, Pennsylvania — I have been in and out of prisons in the US and Latin America since I was about 19 years old for all kinds of reasons: as a journalist and writer, as a friend, as a family member. One night, I even slept in a prison in Mexico.

I am committed to visiting, talking with and interviewing those who believe they have been all but forgotten —people who in some cases believe they have no value to society because they are behind bars. 

I have seen many things in prison. I know that most of these men are not saints. But neither are most of us living outside prison walls. The late Harvard University legal scholar Bill Stuntz estimated that more than 70 percent of Americans have committed an imprisonable offense.

Inside prisons I have heard about horrible crimes committed by the convicted. I have also heard firsthand about fights and assaults instigated by abusive guards. But I have also seen community and friendship and solidarity and tenderness, happiness and hugs between the convicted and some of the guards too. 

Maybe it’s because of this experience with prisons that I, like many, understand the concept of the “big one” and the “little one.” 

I learned about this in Mexico where they call it “La Grande” and “La Chiquita.” The big prison we all live in… and the little one with bars. Imprisoned icons like Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela taught that a mind can always be free even when the body can’t be.

The United States has only 5 percent of the world’s total population but has 25 percent of the world’s incarcerated.

Latinos are the fastest-growing demographic group in the US and also have one of the fastest-growing rates of incarceration in the US. There now is a real possibility that Latinos will soon surpass Blacks as the fastest-growing group of Americans behind bars, both groups imprisoned disproportionately to their numbers in society. 

The US also incarcerates thousands of prisoners sentenced as juveniles to life in prison — sometimes without parole. The Supreme Court in 2012 dramatically limited the practice, calling it unconstitutional, but an estimated 2,500 prisoners sentenced to life without parole as juveniles remain incarcerated. 

This spring I visited Graterford State Prison in Pennsylvania to see an inmate who goes by Suave. I have known him for about 20 years. 

Suave was sentenced to life in prison when he had just turned 17 years old. He was found guilty and sentenced to life for the attempted murder of a 16-year-old shot for his leather jacket who later died. 

Suave said he was illiterate so when a lawyer presented him with a plea bargain he didn't understand what it was and, believing in his innocence, went to trial.

Having now served 28 years in Graterford, Suave has grown up into a remarkable man. In the 1990s, another prisoner taught him how to read. He got a GED after trying and failing seven times, and then after 16 years got his bachelor’s degree from Villanova University this past spring. He now plans to begin a master’s program. He accomplished all of this from within the walls of Graterford.

One day Suave came up with an idea his fellow lifers thought was entirely impossible.

Suave wanted to create a scholarship to keep kids in school and out of jail. It would come from money inmates themselves had donated. How much could they possibly raise if the hourly rate for inmate work is about 14 to 60 cents an hour? To donate $5, an inmate might have to work for about an entire week.

But Suave made it happen. Since his campaign began began, it has given 16 scholarships — the dollar amounts aren’t huge, but carry with them hope that the kids who get the money won’t end up wearing a number behind bars.

Suave is studying organizational management because in “La Chiquita” he is getting ready for “La Grande.” Although each state now will decide how to handle the men who were juveniles sentenced to life before the SCOTUS decision, Pennsylvania has been one of the toughest states on its juvenile lifers. 

Suave is hopeful about one day getting out, so he is doing the most he can with his time inside. He is a leader among a group of respected, productive and thoughtful men who all committed crimes as adolescents. These men are real. There is no TV show about the important lives they lead locked up in one of the country’s largest state prisons. 

If the US continues to incarcerate at the current rates, for sure more good Latino men will end up behind bars.

By the numbers, they are a big part of the future of our country. And we need more of them smart and engaged in the “La Grande.” 

Columnist Maria Hinojosa is a regular contributor to the VOICES series on the GlobalPost commentary page. She is president and CEO of The Futuro Media Group, which produces LatinoUSA, the longest running Latino news program in America.

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This piece is part of a GlobalPost Special Reports/Commentary initiative supported by the Ford Foundation called "VOICES." The mission of VOICES is to present the ideas and opinions of those who are less frequently heard in the media, including women, people of color, sexual minorities, citizens of the developing world and young people. These voices will consistently discuss topics important to GlobalPost Special Reports including human rights, religious issues, global health, economic inequality and democracies in transition.