Pubdate: Thu, 05 Jan 2006
Source: Evansville Courier & Press (IN)
Copyright: 2006 The Evansville Courier Company
Contact:  http://www.courierpress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/138
Author: Garret Mathews, Courier & Press Columnist
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

'SERVING TIME 101' GETS ENDORSEMENT FROM A 'GRADUATE'

Last month I wrote a column suggesting that no Vanderburgh County 
middle school student be allowed to graduate without taking a special 
one-day course I call Serving Time 101.

Now that we have a new lockup, I think a cell in the county's old 
jail should be reserved for adolescents.

Each day, a handful of youngsters from every school in the county 
would be bused to the decrepit facility where they would be booked, 
fingerprinted, issued prison jumpsuits and tossed into the slammer.

After an hour of staring at the walls and breathing air that smells 
like a wet sock, they would be released in time for fourth period.

I believe the overwhelming majority would realize jail is a 
thoroughly wretched place and become determined to live their lives 
in such a way that they will not be in stir for so much as three seconds.

The column prompted a half-dozen or so responses, all in agreement 
with Serving Time 101.

I heard from Star Powers, who has spent almost one-third of her 35 
years behind bars.

Her offenses range from auto theft to dealing cocaine.

At one time, she had a heroin habit that cost $1,000 a day. When the 
Evansville woman ran out of money, she resorted to prostitution in 
the cheap motels on Fares Avenue.

"It started when I was 13. I was delinquent and out of control. 
Drinking, drugging and fighting with my dad. I couldn't stand being 
told what to do."

She dropped out of school at 16. Two years later, she was pregnant 
with her first of three children.

"It wasn't unusual for me to sell $10,000 worth of dope in a week. 
The drugs took hold of my life and my kids suffered the consequences. 
Mom ended up taking them."

Star's first stint in prison failed to get her attention.

"When I got back home, I went right back into the drugs - selling and 
using. I also wrote some bad checks. Mom kicked me out of the house."

She was arrested and sentenced to 21 years.

"The legal system was tired of fooling around with me."

But this time she entered a recovery program while in prison. Instead 
of trying to figure out how to smuggle dope into her cell, she 
thought long and hard about her wasted life.

Thanks to a modification in her sentence, Star Powers was released in 
2003. She worked two jobs - waiting tables and clerking at a convenience store.

"I'm totally drug-free and celebrating my second year of having my 
kids back. When you do things right, good things come to you."

She is finishing a course in human services at Ivy Tech. She plans to 
enroll at USI and pursue a degree in social work.

"I want to go into substance abuse treatment for teenagers."

It's an exhausting schedule. When she isn't working or going to 
school or being with her children, she attends AA meetings.

Star Powers believes middle school is the perfect age for youngsters 
to spend an hour in the old county jail.

"I was in there coming off heroin. Shaking and throwing up for an 
entire week. They put me in a holding cell so I could get sick in 
private. I was hallucinating so bad I thought the bars were melting.

"Kids could learn a lesson from me and people like me who screwed up. 
Jail isn't a pleasant place. The sooner you learn that, the better 
off you'll be."
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