Agoura resident teaches writing to young inmates

Nicole Weinberg, a 28-yearold resident of Agoura Hills, has spent a fair amount of time behind bars over the past three months, although never convicted of a crime

The only thing this Oak Park High School English teacher is guilty of is donating a majority of her Saturdays each month to helping disadvantaged and incarcerated youth at Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar.

Working with InsideOUT Writers, a Los Angeles nonprofit organization dedicated to discouraging youth violence through education, Weinberg teaches three creative writing classes at the detention center.

Weinberg became involved with the organization nearly a year ago after a friend brought it to her attention. She started teaching her classes in September.

While inmates are required to attend classes to prepare for their high school equivalency exam, the boys attend Weinberg’s class on a voluntary basis. And while they are often given mini-lectures on influential authors, the true purpose of the class is to encourage creative expression.

“My class serves as a catharsis,” said Weinberg. “The inmates learn to express their emotions through creative writing.”

The participants are free to write about anything. Their poetry often covers a range of subjects and is riddled with strong undertones of anger, regret and a desire for redemption.

One participant, named Ramon, wrote a poem entitled “Mind Tricks.” The piece discusses his mental anguish over the possibility of serving a life sentence. Ramon, 16, was recently incarcerated with his third strike and is awaiting trial.

While all of the members of Weinberg’s class are under 18, a majority of them are accused of violent crimes and will be tried as adults.

“They’re kids,” said Weinberg. “Cognitively, I understand that they are violent offenders, but when I’m with them, they just appear as boys who never really stood a chance.”

Boys who want to participate in the class are required to attend all sessions and to pursue their writing diligently.

The most difficult part of the class is to get the children to share their writing, said Weinberg.

“It usually takes a little bribery with some candy, but once they start sharing, everyone opens up,” said Weinberg. “The amount of respect the students show for each other is incredible.”

While they were pensive at first, Weinberg feels that the members of her class are truly starting to open up and share with her. They now pester her to teach more sessions and ask for hugs at the adjournment of each meeting.

Weinberg feels that one of the most rewarding aspects of her work is the fact that the detainees are beginning to recognize the benefits of education.

“(The inmates) are becoming more and more aware of a world they imagined they could never be a part of,” said Weinberg. “They now have hope. They now realize how important education is and how it can help them to accomplish dreams such as owning a car and bringing home real money.”

Many of Weinberg’s students attribute their behavior to where they lived and the people with whom they associated. A majority claim that if they had the chance to go back and do things over again they would place a heavier emphasis on school.

Weinberg believes that the key to giving these children a better chance at success lies in preventing them from going to juvenile hall in the first place. Recidivism is exceptionally high among children who have been convicted already.

“People need to acknowledge that these kids exist,” said Weinberg. “We aren’t talking about a small corner of the market; there are a lot of people in this unfortunate situation. If people who had security, jobs and finances paid a little attention to what goes on, we could take a more proactive approach and prevent these kids from having to go to ‘juvee’ in the first place.”