Aaron Mays used to dart out of class at 4:50 p.m. every Thursday last winter to go to prison.
He went to lend an ear, and maybe a Bible, to adolescents at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center with Sheil Catholic Center's prison ministry program.
Participating students travel from floor to floor of the detention center as mentors, or what campus minister Tim Higgins calls "advocates," for about 500 detained or incarcerated youths ranging in age from 12 to 17.
"I think we grow as people when we stretch ourselves and we reach out to people who we normally wouldn't come into contact with," Higgins said.
Higgins started the program five and a half years ago and is currently trying to recruit participants, who must be 21 or older, for this year's program.
Because of the age requirement, the program usually needs new students every year when previous students graduate, Higgins said.
In the past, Higghins has sent three or four participants per quarter to work at the facility at 1100 S. Hamilton Ave. in Chicago.
Students choose whether they want to visit the center on Tuesdays or Thursdays. Each visit typically takes four hours, including commuting time.
While advocates may use the Bible to stir up conversation, Higgins said they let the kids take conversations where they want to.
"We're just there to listen to them, to see how they're doing, and to see if there's anything they'd like to talk about," Higgins said. "We're not there to be counselors, to give advice or to judge, but to be there as listeners."
Mays said getting to know the kids he had only seen before on the local news opened his eyes to the circumstances that might have landed them in trouble with the law.
"I think people label them so quickly as criminals," Mays, a 2007 Communication graduate and former PLAY staffer, said. "But there are so many different components, different elements that add to the reason why these young men and women end up in that facility."
2008 Woodie Awards
The DAILY encourages you to share your thoughts on this story. Please help us keep the discussion lively, but civil. Comments that are abusive to others, off-topic or vulgar, or comments that misrepresent someone's identity, will not be tolerated. We reserve the right to delete any comments in violation or to close comment threads on articles.
Please e-mail online@dailynorthwestern.com to flag a comment or for more information.
Be the first to comment on this story