Leaders Emerge from a Washington State Youth Prison, Urging a More Just and Safe World [imprintnews.org]

Porter Jennings-McGarity 9/28/226:00 AM

By Nell Bernstein, Photo: Washington Legislative Support Services, The Imprint, September 27, 2022

It was 8 a.m. in the Hotel Murano conference room in Tacoma and like any good host, 23-year-old Aaron Toleafoa understood his mandate: wake up the crowd.

“How’s everybody feeling today?” he asked the guests who were gathered for the Coalition for Juvenile Justice’s annual Youth Summit. “Good, good. For everybody who’s not from Washington, y’all enjoy this town over here? It’s my hometown, so you better like it.”

Despite his local upbringing, Toleafoa hadn’t seen Tacoma since July of 2016, when he boarded a bus in shackles for the 60-mile ride from the local Remann Hall Juvenile Detention Center to the Green Hill School in Chehalis, a youth prison where he is currently doing time.

[Please click here to read more.]

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