One night Jesus and his friends had a shotgun and were driving around
looking for enemy gangsters. At one point, they rolled down the window
and pointed the gun at a local kid named Saul. It turned out that one
of the kids in the car was friends with Saul so instead of shooting him
they invited him into the car to continue cruising.
Around 4 a.m. they tried to jack a car stereo, but they ran away because they thought someone was watching.
Later on that night Jesus and his friends found a couple kids from an
enemy gang. They grabbed one of the kids and hit him in the head with a
broken bottle. After they were done beating up the other gang members,
they drove off.
They were looking for more action when a cop pulled them over and
searched the car. It turned out that someone HAD seen them trying to
jack the car stereo earlier that night. They got searched and the cops
found beer, drugs, and the shotgun. Jesus, now 18, was considered an
adult and was sentenced to two years in prison.
For most gangsters, this would be the end. But for Jesus, prison was
the best thing that ever happened to him. A few weeks into his sentence
he heard about a new kind of prison that was also a school. This school
was famous all over America for turning gangsters into star students.
Welcome to Jail School
“A lot of my friends went to prison for like 40 years….for murder!”
said Jesus during our tour of America’s school for gangsters. The
school is called Ridge View Academy, and this school means business.
Ridge
View Academy is outside Denver. It’s a college and a prison. Guards are
constantly patrolling the grounds on ATVs looking for kids who try to
run.
To get sent to Ridge View you have to find yourself in jail. Once you
are in jail, guards from Ridge View look for boys who could turn their
lives around and send them to this school. The school is famous for
turning gangsters into scholars.
When the police vans dump you off at Ridge View you do not get to join
the other kids for 45 days. First you must pass through “boot camp.”
This is where they suck the thug out of you. Here you learn to march
together while tapping your knees. If you screw up it’s 30 PUSH-UPS!
Walk tall with shoulders straight. You or your pants sag it’s 30
PUSH-UPS! Never swear, never look to the side, never disrespect another
inmate. If you do: PUSH-UPS, PUSH-UPS, PUSH-UPS!
For each day you don’t get in trouble in boot camp you get a point.
After 45 points you get to join the main student body at Ridge View.
All students must be in strict uniform. Shirts are tucked in and white
shoes must be clean. Since few kids act badly at Ridge View, the school
attracts some of the best teachers. Kids take normal classes like math
and history but can also choose what classes to take.
At 10:30 a.m. everyone in the school goes to the track and runs three
miles! They do this every single day of the year, weekends, summers,
even during huge snow-storms. If it takes you more than 24 minutes to
run the 12 laps, guess what? MORE PUSHUPS!
After lunch there is a three hour elective. We’re not just talking PE
and art. Students can choose classes in auto mechanics, metal welding,
construction, cooking or college preparation. Some kids even get to
choose sports like football instead of going to classes.
Dinner is at six sharp. Everyone sits in a circle, holds hands and each
person gets to speak his mind without interruption. Sometimes crazy
stuff gets said and there is some tension. On the other hand, this
“group talk” helps students be honest with their feelings and get rid
of bottled up anger. Homework is done from 7p.m. to 9p.m. and then it’s
lights out.
“The key is to teach young men to keep their minds focused on what they
should be doing. There is no free time at Ridge View. Free time, the
school believes, leads kids to start thinking about stuff that will
lead them down the wrong path,” says Erin Walsh, career coordinator at
Ridge View Academy.
Facts about Ridge View:
1. Crips and Bloods get put in the same room to teach them to get along.
2. Students are given a clean tie and taught how to tie it for court dates.
3. Each student’s closet must be perfectly neat with all three uniforms hanging unwrinkled on a hanger.
Delicious
Furl it!
Spurl
NewsVine
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Technorati
Ridge
View Academy is outside Denver. It’s a college and a prison. Guards are
constantly patrolling the grounds on ATVs looking for kids who try to
run. 
Subscribe to this comment's feed
