Nikolus Gerolaga does not belong to a high school.

Instead, he said, he belongs to a gang. Above his white and black Cortezes rests the weight of his ankle bracelet, the bracelet that separates him from the only life he knows. According to this freshman, he was “raised by the streets,”and will “graduate with a street diploma.”

He cannot leave the premises of his personal prison, and Gerolaga is not alone.

In fact, today’s criminals are starting out increasingly younger. And teenagers who enter the system are more than likely to go back.

In California, seven out of 10 teens who go to jail end up returning at some point.

With three new prison facilities expected to open near Stockton, community members are fearful that incarceration rates will skyrocket even higher. 

“This is no accident,” said Motecuzoma Sanchez, member of ESPINO, a group dedicated to changing the face of incarceration.

“Once you leave, you’re destined to go back,” said Aaliyah Muhammad, member of All of Us or None. They complain the system is like a magnet.

ESPINO and other groups led a town-hall meeting at Delta College in February.

Some may think teenagers become criminals due to a lack of attention, but a few students on campus have committed such acts for personal reasons.

The summer before senior Ector Suchil’s eighth grade year, he was escorted into the doors of juvenile hall.

Stealing became a habit for his older brother, who soon influenced Suchil to become his partner in crime.

Televisions, VCRs, computers, and other classroom electronics were some of the items they stole.

They made a couple hundred dollars here and there, but the habit would not last long.    

Police and helicopters caught up with the Suchil brothers, and the law played its role. Their fingerprints were documented and soon after Suchil was sent to juvenile hall to serve 28 days.

“After the third day, it’s home,” he said. 

This is ESPINO’s concern, inmates adapting to the system and settling for a life behind bars.

Although prisoners eat three meals a day and have friends to converse with, Suchil recalls that there was no grass, trees, or birds to see.

After being in custody, Suchil has strived to not become another statistic.
  Daniel Madrigal, senior, says he has not changed.

After trespassing and breaking and entering into a high school, he doesn’t see the harm in his crime committed. 

Born and raised in West Sacramento, Madrigal was adopted by his aunt, who had raised him since the age of 6. He recently severed their relationship because “she couldn’t handle me no more.”

Madrigal said this in reference to an incident of his junior year. Ankle bracelet on foot and violating his parole, he attended winter formal and came home drunk to an adoptive mother who could no longer control him.

A short call to his parole officer and a few late hours into the night, Madrigal found himself in jail.

“I got locked up for a month,” he said, “and got sent to a group home.” 

Embarrassed and alone, his first thought was to run. He was promised home visits and a soon departure from Stockton, which kept him from fleeing back home to Sacramento.
However, regret is not on his mind.He just wishes he hadn’t been caught. His friends were accessories to this crime, but he refused to turn them in, leaving him subject to the consequences of their actions as well as his own.

Unlike Madrigal, Cody Sons learned the consequences of his actions at a younger age. Sons was only 13 when he “beat a 35 year old man with a bat” for stealing his younger sister’s bicycle.

He had to grow up fast, spending nine months in juvenile hall where he learned to be especially catious.

Incarceration taught Sons what happened on the exterior walls of the correctional facility, but first, he had to learn how to handle himself on the inside. 

“It wasn’t a positive environment,” he said, “and I didn’t agree with the things that went on.”

Although he did not blend into that type of environment, he spent plenty of time in his 12 by 6 cell thinking of ways he would have altered his actions, and “handled it differently.” After serving his time, he was placed in a group home.

“I’ve been away from my family for two years now,” Sons said, and he cannot wait to be home again.

With the weekly home visits, he gets closer to being reunited with his family. He claims he was never a troublemaker, but being in jail made him want to fight. Being inside of juvenile hall has made Sons overly cautious, always checking his back.

“It wasn’t a good experience,” he said. 

Suchil would agree, but sometimes it takes obstacles to grow as a person. “Don’t do the things I’ve done; it’s not worth it, because things do change.”

More than 2 million Americans today are incarcerated.

Although the United States has the highest percentage of documented prisoners than any other country, the Star Spangled Banner still deems America as “the land of the free.”

Members of ESPINO are concerned that incarceration is the new slavery, keeping felons chained to the system.

Muhammad said, “This cycle has to break.”