Offering a second chance. Put gas on his car. Lit it on fire. Set it on fire. And it blew up. Ya [laughs]. He used to be an incredibly aggressive young man. But, to succeed in the j. Paul taylor center, theyll have to control their rage. Honestly, i think this place has just made me a better criminal. Inside new mexicos juvenile system where the fight for redemption begins. This is what i got for my birthday from my mom, her name is jenny. Like mainly they can just send you like types of drinks and stuff but they cant be like bottles because they think were gonna make like alcohol and stuff. 17 and celebrating. A birthday behind bars. His mom is homeless. His older brother in jail. He was 5 with 7 siblings when his father put a note on the refrigerator and left. Thats my niece sinnay. Shes like 5 right now. This is my brother pedro, hes been in and out of jail his whole life. Hes in southern prison right now. Yeah hes kind of the reason i got in trouble cuz i would hang out with him. He got me into using drugs and stuff. I dont know, i kinda think thats what lead up to me being in here. To me just wanting to be like him but, i shouldnt want to be like him. That just pretty much reminds me of my family cuz i eat a lot of this stuff at home. And. Yeah it just comforts me. This is his 4th birthday in an institution. Jail at 11, foster care at 14, rehab at 15, then rehab and jail again. This time it was illegal alcohol possession, and then, violating probation by shoplifting. At 17, he was out of second chances. It sucks cuz like, on your birthday you want to be with your family the most. Keith will spend his next birthday here too. Trying to change his life while serving a 2 year sentence at the j. Paul taylor center. This is my favorite yeah this is my favorite kind of snack laughs so. I got to make sure she sends that. This juvenile lock up is also trying to change as part of a 2009 settlement with the aclu after accusations of physical and sexual assaults. And an absence of medical or Mental Health care. The state of new mexico offers scant resources. Even on the outside, and has one of the poorest populations of children in the nation. Here keith gets a full day of school. Daily counseling. Guards that double as mentors. The reforms come from a program is called cambiar the spanish word for change, implemented at all 5 of new mexicos juvenile centers. Al Jazeera America got extensive access inside to see the impact its had on the inmates. Keith is 7 months into a 2year sentence. Hes had one family visit and hes nursing an old basketball injury. At first, it was pretty bad. Heh. My anger was pretty bad. So i needed to just learn how to control it better. Its kinda hard, though. cause right when i start feeling it, i try to tell myself to calm down, but it doesnt really work that much. So i have to learn how to just, remove myself from a situation thats gonna make me angry. I see his softer side. Well i just think things happen for a reason. I dont know, maybe, me coming here is just. Gonna help me live a better life when i get out. When i get out i have to do my 100 best so i dont end up in a place like this again. Part of that means reconnecting with his family. But today. On his birthday he seems sad about not reaching his mother on the phone. There are 60,000 kids under the age of 21 locked up around the country. J. Paul taylor averages 48 juveniles between the ages of 12 and 21. Cambiar hopes to model itself after a program in missouri with the lowest recidivism rates in the country. Taylors program is too new to measure. Superintendent quintero runs the place. These are clients who have been committed by the court because theyve been found to have committed delinquent acts. What would be a delinquent act . Um, range of different things. It could be anything from a probation violation to murder. So you have kids here who have killed someone . Yes, we do. But like most kids in the National Juvenile incarceration system, the majority at John Paul Taylor committed nonviolent crimes like shoplifting, burglary, or selling drugs. We have facilities here and facilities in albuquerque. Sandra stewart is director of new mexicos juvenile justice services. Instead of just warehousing kids and watching them serve their time, the kids learn to do everything together in a unit. And the staff started being trained to be more along the lines of mentors and team leaders and coaches rather than correctional officers. Hey were gonna be doing a check in a couple minutes. Were going to be doing a checkin in a couple minutes ok . It was a huge change, a lot of the staff that were here at the time, it was just easier to sit here and just watch, and they didnt believe in being giving them the time necessary and the help necessary to help them become better. Keiths unit, called mesquite, contains 9 young men. Hey get ready were going to do a check in here in a couple minutes. The mesquite unit has a strict routine, including a 6 1 2 hour school day. Twicedaily checkins with staff who get 6 weeks of specialized training. Education and therapy are vital to the success of cambiar. Douglas ingram considers himself a mentor. How much time do you give em before they have to come out . Probably another 23 minutes, and ill open all the doors, theyll secure em behind em, and theyll all have a seat. Alright. Cool. And well start. And ill stay out of your way. Ok. Alright fellas hey. Real quick, lets, lets stay quiet, give everybody the opportunity to talk. Were gonna do a check in with you guys. Ill start off with uh, vicente, hows your day going . Excellent. Good day . No issues today . Not at all. In fact it was boring. Work out . Little bit. Feeling good . Nothing too bad. Good, okay, good. Keith how was your day . My day was pretty chill. No, i, my issue i got into it with gonzo earlier but, just, it was over some wack stuff. Over a ball. So you took care of it . Yeah we talked about it okay. Im good. Well if you have any issues let me know okay . Lets have a good day. You too. Wyatt . Everythings good. Many kids in the center and in juvenile facilities nationwide have special needs. In fact, up to 70 of young people in the system suffer from a mental disorder. Well if you have any issues let me know okay . Lets have a good day. Keith struggles with the trauma he suffered as a child. The staff looks out for his unpredictable anger. Whats the post Traumatic Stress from . They say its just mainly from me getting beat when i was younger and like, theyd lock me in the closet all day. I start getting like anxious. Like its hard for me to control that stuff i take meds for it but, they dont. They can only do so much, the meds. I have to try to control it too. But when i first got here, i was getting in like 3 incidents a day. So i have changed a lot. Keith is frustrated right now. He is up and down. Someone will not want to participate in some things and then he wants stuff right then and there. Ok, so what we have to do is make sure that we keep an eye on keith today, monitor his frustration because we do all know that he has outbursts. So we will make sure that we keep checking in with him and uh making sure hes ok. Why is he frustrated . A lot of times its for attention. You know, he will just scream and you look over and say whats going on . And hell smile, you know, and then other times hell just get angry, youll be in the middle of a conversation, hes happy, and then all of a sudden hes mad. If he needs us to take him out, take him for a walk, whatever needs some individual attention from us, we will give that to him. Today on his birthday keith still cant reach his mother. This is my mom right here. This is my main support. She helps me with everything. Whenever i have like whenever im thinking about something i cant make a decision, ill call her and ask her about it. Even when it doesnt have to do with her, shes the first person i ask about anything. Even when it benefits me like, if she doesnt want me to do it i wont do it. So i wont do anything without her knowing about it. Hello . Hey is my mom there . This is keith. My moms not there right now . Do you know where shes at . When d when are they going to be back . Alright well ill try back in like 30 minutes. I was trying to call my mom. She uh, she wasnt at the house. She went to go pick up my little cousin with my aunt. So they said she should be back in like 30 minutes, so i told them id call back. Yeah. Thats just [bleep] weird, like their phones are [bleep] up. His anger rises. Common among young people with traumatic childhoods. I need to just focus on whats coming, like whats gonna happen later on. Because you never know what could happen here. So you just gotta focus on the day, focus to be safe, not get in trouble. Thats mainly what i think about in here just not getting in trouble. Cause if you get in trouble like, if you get more than i think 7 errors on a 2year, you can get extended. And i already have 7. So if i get 1 more im eligible for extension. So thats why i have to be like extra careful now. A lot at stake. For the young man going to bed on his 17th birthday, feeling on the brink of chaos. Our american story is written everyday. Its not always pretty, but its real. And we show you like noone else can. This is our american story. This is america tonight. Its crazy money that you can make here. Its a ticking time bomb. Do you know what chemicals have been in that tank . My big brother didnt wake up the next day. Al Jazeera Americas. Today they will be arrested. Theyre firing canisters of gas at us. We have to get out of here. Long before cambiar was implemented, Eric Contreras entered his first new mexico juvenile detention facility, camino nuevo. He was just 8 years old. His claims of abuse in the juvenile system mirrored the aclu lawsuit. There was fights every day. Almost all day sometimes. Bloody noses, broken noses, broken hands. Just bloodied up. Thrown in the hole for, for more than they should have been, you know what i mean . One of my friends, he would just cry like, man, its awful in here. I want to go home. That was our whole childhood. To us it was normal. By 11, he faced manslaughter charges. He accused his guards of beating and hog tying him. That is accurate. We did have a lot of turmoil at that time. Even at this facility we use to have a unit that they called the adjustment unit and when kids were unmanageable in a larger setting, or became physically violent, they also went to the adjustment unit. They dont get anything. You know, if anything if it causes them to act out even more. Just seems like a 12yearold, in solitary confinement, 23 hours a day . Yes. For day after day after day . Months at a time . Yes, maam. It was 23hour lockdown. We were locked down all the time. Like you got out to make to work out, make a phone call and um, like a 2 or 3 minute shower and you were done, you know what i mean . It makes you hate the system, it makes you hate the cos, makes you hate the inmates more. Just makes you hate this whole environment. It doesnt teach a kid a lesson it just teaches him to hate more. The aclu sued new mexico accusing their juvenile Justice Centers of locking kids in solitary confinement, abusing them and lying about the level of violence. It was bad. There was a lot of concern about excessive use of force, concern about isolation and separation, concern about inadequately trained staff. A settlement has been reached in a case from 2005 between the aclu and children youth and families department. The lawsuit stemmed from problems at the cyfd center in springer where fights constantly broke out between detainees and sometimes the guards even got involved. The aclu filed the suit saying the cyfd wasnt doing enough to make sure that detainees were safe and getting the help they need. Like i said i was a kid. You know what i mean . I thought that was just how it was supposed to be. So, but now i look back and that was no way to live. He got his High School Diploma but says he was never taught anything. Eric moved the federal system at age 20. The aclu has gone back to court twice since, accusing new mexico of not moving on reforms from their settlement. That was all before cambiar. Within just a few seconds of us starting this discussion, what did you guys start saying . I dont i didnt want to change i just, i have to. Because if i go outside and i do the same thing i might rob the wrong person and get myself killed or im robbing the wrong person, they pull out a gun and i shoot them first. So, if i go out and do the same thing ill either be dead within a week or in prison for the rest of my life so. Since then. Mequite has added Group Counseling from a certified therapist. Once a week, its oneonone. What are some other factors that might help us to add to that epiphany . J. Paul taylor didnt fully implement cambiar until a year ago. Its success is still measured in kids like keith who finally reaches his mom. Thank you sir. Sup mom . How are you doing . Oh i know i aint even trippin like those kids cant bring me down. Alright, so. Alright well, i dont want to go over before i get in trouble. Alright i love you too. Bye. Then suddenly, i see another side of keith. When. Out of nowhere. He tries to start a fight. Hes the guy with the pink cast in this surveillance video. So, how many fights have you had in the five months youve been here . Five, heh. Five fights . Five, yeah, five. So, every time you fight, you get a disciplinary writeup. Yeah. And it takes 7 to get extended on a twoyear, and i already have 7. So the next thing, youre getting extended. , ive got to be really cautious. But i mean, i still have slipups. The other day, i almost got into a fight. And it was over, somethin stupid. Someone cutting you in line. Yeah. Its, so i gotta s, just start thinking more about stuff before i act. Is it working . Sometimes it is, sometimes it doesnt. Cambiar is working better for the oldest teenager in the unit 19 year old vincente thats a long way away from his days as a gang member in the west side locas. Hes been in jail three times. Once he and his brother beat a drug client. This time hes serving two years for arson and assault. Um what brought you here . Well, originally on a oneyear for an arson case that i picked up in clovis. You put gas on his car and set it on fire and it blew up . Yeah, more or less you know. That got you how much time . That got me just a year. A year . And that was in albuquerque . Yes in albuquerque. And then i we jumped that kid with a weapon. What weapon . It was just a sock and a bar of soap and then whenever the staff tried to intervene my friends started to assault him and i just followed suit. And thats what brought you here . Yes, and then i came down here then i got committed til the age of 21. His first year, nothing changed. I was what they call a [bleep] stick. A s[bleep] stick . Which im going to guess is exactly what it sounds like. A bad kid. Yeah. Always trying to instigate people to fight, trying to get restrained. So what happened in the two and a half years that you have been here . I can honestly say i woke up one day like, oohh i dont want to do this no more. I learned how to reason before i do my actions i learned how to control anger a little bit i learned a little education. What made you realize it was fun to learn . Honestly like ive always liked to learn it was always there but i never actually took the time to sit down. I never had the will. I never had someone to push me and when i came here, like i said, some staff here helped me out with that. Has having mentors helped you . Yeah id say its helped me out a lot. How . Just their life experiences, some of them can relate to me. Some were in bad situations, some try to push me some actually, i got love for once. Some affection, so they showed me kindness and all that. So you had to come behind bars really to get some attention and affection . I know it sounds odd but, Something Like that. What do you like to study . I like music, i like space and physics a lot, like the physical sciences, not much grammar and english and those but more hands on things. Quintero, the superintendent, credits the program for helping vincente turn things around. Something clicked in him when he got here. And i hope it was a decision that i dont want to live my life this way. Vincent found a reason to change, which is his music. Were gonna do this. [piano music] im so bad. Alright, lets do it again for real. Ready . Oh i switched it up. I was going into whole new, a different rhythm, my bad. So obviously youre playing better than doing chop sticks. Whats your favorite thing to play . Ah. A little bit of classical beethoven, mozart, bach. How did you learn . I mean you dont just sit down one day and start feeling out bach on the piano. Nah, i just, took what i know from the trumpet and translated it to the piano. How do you play, for example, the bach pieces that you like . I dont see any sheet music. Oh, here you go, a little. Yeah. So you can read music . Yes. But not like, for piano i kind of like i cant really read it directly. Like that ones actually for the cello, i actually took the cello piece and played it on piano. What, um, what does playing the piano do for you . Its therapy, and a hobby, an interest. I wanna be a professional you know its just a little bit of everything. Does anybody else here play . Nah, not really, like i teach them, you know the [plays a scale] the little scales and different they like little hip hop beats, you know like songs that are already made so i teach them how to play those. Like youll have kids make beats and flow all day but when it comes to a little sonata or something, forget it. They cant do it. Mhm. Whats the thing youre working on now . Right now im doing uh, cello suite by bach. How does it go . Lets see if i remember it. [piano music] cambiar let him keep his trumpet when he arrived, and later found him a piano. But not everyone here has found their way to peace. The mesquite unit is about to explode. Pushing the boundaries of science. 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You dont see that every day. Introducing wifi pro, wifi that helps grow your business. Comcast business. Built for business. The boys are quiet in mesquite today, then suddenly tempers flare. 15 yearold wyatt swings furiously at another 15yearold named keidrik. Keidrik gets in a single punch. Good morning, gentlemen. Good morning. I heard that you had a little excietment this morning . Oh nothing too much. Nothing too much . What happened . I got rushed in the bathroom. You did . Yeah while i was doing my chores. Unfortunately, but. So what started all that . I have no idea i was in there doing my chores and he just ran in there and hit me whop. He said, whats up, and then the, b word, and then he hit me so. So what did you do about it . I hit him back. Did you get hurt . No, no. Ok. Let me see your hands. Ok. Wyatt blames keidrik whos now holed up in his room, not talking. Quintero says 15 year old keidriks mom is in a gang and she has several other kids. Hes been in mesquite for 5 months, after violating probation for assaulting a police officer. Keith is the only friend hes made. So you were saying that, that this is still prison. What do you mean . I mean i think the guys out there would tell me that theyre all working very hard. From the moment you got in here, to help you grow, and change, and develop, and leave better off than you came in. Is that not true . I guess. Like, you. Take it how you want i guess. Some people they dont see it as a prison but it really is. Its a juvenile prison. And you get your commitment, you come here and do your time. If you want help, sometimes theyll give you help. But, most of the time, youre on your own. You feel like youre on your own . Pretty much, you fend for yourself. You dont feel like anyone is giving you any help . The only people really giving me help is my mom and my mentor right now. Whos your mentor . Uh, horton. Mm. And what kind of help does he give you . Just talks to me whenever i need someone to talk to. And one of the Staff Members ingram. He helps me a lot too. He helps me a lot. Just to stay out of trouble and stuff like that. Hes been gone for a while so, its been kinda. Kinda like weird without him around. Taylor calls itself a center. The state lists it as a correctional facility. The leaderships calls the juveniles clients, not inmates. One of the young men i talked to today said, they call us clients, but were not clients. Were prisoners. You can call it whatever you want, youre in a prison. Does he have a point . Well, we do still control their movement. Uh, they are still certainly in an environment that we are in control of and theyre not. And that probably feels like prison. And you have barbed wire. Yes. And doors that lock. Yes. In front of you, and behind you. Yes. One of the toughest things for my job certainly is to always balance the needs of the client and public safety. unintelligible thats making you both feel disrespected. And its not worth it, cause. Alright. Im telling you we can mediate but im just going to tell him i dont like you and im not gonna talk to you but whatever is done. Ok, see theres a respectful way to do it, and theres disrespectful. Starting off a conversation with i dont like you, but im willing to work this out, but just know i dont like you. Youre still leaving that little dirt out there and it still can create some further issues, thats not facing the situation. Alright. And i want the situation to be resolved so we dont have no problems, not, not go in there and just say what you want to say for the time being. I dont need you fighting or having no more dirs or no more trouble. Alright. You got me . Yeah. Ok. I told you earlier, you know, that immaturity and the way you would come off towards people that that was eventually going to happen. You know what i mean . So you gotta treat people with respect to get it. Yeah. You know . I mean the thing that really got to me was him just the whole blindsiding thing like that kind of pissed me off you know what i mean . Mhm. You know if anything comes up you know you can contact, let us know so we can do our job. You know what i mean . So lets just stay focused. Alright. Ok . Why dont you walk me through what happened. So i was cleaning my room and walked out, i went to the restroom and he told me to square up and he started swinging at me and just started fighting. There was nothing that precipitated it . There was nothing that. Disrespect. You look a little agitated. cuz i havent seen my family in forever and i just had a little sister that was born, and i havent seen her yet. And its just kinda frustrating. Do you sort feel like you walk around frustrated all the time . Yeah. Keidrik has some attention issues, you know hes hard to focus. Hes at the beginning of commitment so hes still in the buyinphase. Hes not sure whether he wants this because i dont think hes seen enough of what we can do. Most juvenile facilities isolate kids who fight or even shut them in solitary confinement. But not here. As part of the aclu settlement, no kid can sit in a locked room alone. Its not ok to isolate kids. Its very damaging to them. As of right now you never can separate a young person . If one of them continues to act up, you can take that client to their room but the staff member has to stay there and work with them. And the. What im hoping for is talk them down, find out what the problem was, find out what caused the fight, find out what you need to do to make sure that situation doesnt come up again. But keidrik could face more time if the staff rules that he was at fault. I dont believe you should segregate a kid for no reason or just, just to, you know. But, theres also i believe a time when you need to whenever its, it s unsafe for the other peers. As far as doing it as a punishment, i dont think that that really works with them, anyway. But, now you cant segregate at all . No. You, youre not able to secure them at all. Even if they go into their rooms, you have to sit there and kind of monitor their behavior and, and in it, but you cannot secure their doors. James moya oversees the school where classes run 6 and a half hours, 5 days a week, standard for new mexico since they instituted cambiar. Were never gonna suspend kids, or kick kids out of school, thats not an option for us, so thats, i guess, the big difference. The change that ive seen from the correctional to the cambiar model is more understanding of not what we could take away, or not how we could discipline, or, or correct, but its more like what can we reward. Vincente is one of several kids who has earned his diploma in jail. So you finished your High School Equivalency when . 2013. What was it like . On that day when you graduated . Honestly, it was nothing special just another day. Really . It wasnt nothing too special because i felt like i was in here i didnt really dont want to celebrate. Could you go to college if you wanted to . Hmm right now im attending or just online classes we only take one class per a semester. I would like to get on, attend full time though. Im sure you know the statistics young men of color the unemployment rates are really high. College is really expensive. Yeah, thats why i was thinking about enlisting. I would like to do that too. But with all my background it seems a little hard for that too and now i look back and its like damn i really messed myself over. What are you going to do . I dont know. I just got to figure it out when it gets there. And will you study physics . Yea, i want to. I want to get a degree in physics. Youre sort of a contradiction. Why do you say that . I dont know. I dont think there are a lot of 19yearold young men who are interested in physics and a degree in physics. I can count the numbers of times ive had that conversation on one hand. You know . And yet we are having that conversation pretty much behind barbwire. Yeah. In a cell. Yea, im a unique case. I get that a lot. Vincente has just one year to go on a threeyear sentence. Both keith and vicente need to keep calm or they risk serving more time. I dunno i just got to constantly like, maintain my behavior because if i dont i could slip up and get another ir and possibly be extended. And just kind of start helping other people, helping myself, just keeping up positive behavior, positive attitude. It requires a lot of buy in on the part of the kids. It does. And when we have a kid brand new under commitment we dont have that buy in. We have to sell it to him. What, what do you sell . Whats the, whats the thing youre selling . We sell change. We sell positive. We sell future. By showing them there is a world out there. That you can be angry, yet not hurt people. We show them that there is a future that they can get these same things by being motivated enough to go out and get it. We build selfesteem. Keith was making progress before the fight. His monthly evaluation could mean lost privileges, or even more time. Every monday night. I lived that character. Go one on one with americas movers and shakers. We will be able to see change. Gripping. Inspiring. Entertaining. No topic off limits. cause im like, dad, there are hookers in this house. Exclusive conversations you wont find anywhere else. These are very vivid, human stories. If you have an agenda with people, you sometimes dont see the truth. Talk to al jazeera. Monday, 6 00 eastern. Only on al Jazeera America. In cambiar, kids progress through 4 stages each stage gets them more privileges. For the most part. Youve had 2 messups, you know what i mean . Thats part of your changing you know what i mean . You went from 30 a month to 2 in a month, so you have been working on it so thats what youre talking about progress so, what do you think the chances are that youre going to get moved up to stage 2 today . I mean, its been 6 months, i shouldve had it earlier but i just barely started to wanna change. What made you wanna change . Just, my family. Theyre just telling me that they no matter what i do they still, theyre still going to be there for me, and they support me. So i was like, well, if they care, i should care. So then i started just doing what i had to do so i could be back with them. So youre nervous. Its a big deal today . Yeah. You were in a fight the other day. Yesterday. We both said it was stupid. Like there was no reason for us to get mad like that. But you just get so mad that you cant stop and think and say like wow, tomorrow, im going before this board. Nah. I was just. It was just impulse. It just happened, out of nowhere. One minute i was calm, and then the next thing you know, i was just, we were arguing. Do you have to speak in front of them . Yeah. Good luck. I know, thank you i hope it goes well. Thank you. Hopefully i get it. But i dont know if i dont, ill just work harder, and maybe next time ill get it. He faces staff, his therapist, and on speaker phone, his probation officer. I know, keith had mentioned that he would like to present for his, his stage two, um do you have you paperwork ready for that . Yes sir. Do you wanna go ahead and present that for, to us . Alright first ima start with my autobiography. Alright, put this right here. My name is keith. I was born in the bronx, new york, at the bronx hospital. At the time i lived with my mom, dad, and six brothers and sisters. Yeah, cause i wanna do good for them so, like, cause im always letting them down now, i wanna make them proud of me. Make my mom feel like, she has like, like she can trust me and believe what i say now. Cuz back then she couldnt trust me, i would steal from her, lie to her all the time. As he is getting close to the end of his commitment, he is starting to think and hes starting to control himself. My short and long term goals. First my three shortterm is to work on my anger more, to get more credits in school, and to build a better relationship with my family. And my three long term goals is to graduate high school, to Start College in here, and when i get out, to get a job and start a family, on my own. Well work on the specifics later. Alright, my bad. Oh no, its good man. I know, uh, that it was hard for you to open up and share that amongst everybody else. Um he is working now on identifying coping skills that work for each type of trigger. Hes becoming a bit insightful as to his triggers, uh, who it is, but more than that the behavior in others that triggers him. Keiths mom joins the call. Ms. Diaz do you have any comments at this time . Yes, i just wanna tell keith that his whole family loves him, they are behind him one hundred percent, always have been, uh keith needs to stop focusing on letting his family down and he needs to start focusing on how he let himself down. He needs to do this for himself. And dont worry about how we are youre letting us down . You let yourself down. More than you let anybody else down. So you need to work on that, babe. We all love you. I love you too mom. With the staff here, do you guys feel that he should um get his stage two, or probationary status, how do you guy feel about that . Howd it go . Ahh, i was nervous. Yeah . But it went alright, i, i got on stage two but probationary, so thats sorta like, i have to just keep showing consistency and keep doing good. And if i do good for a while then theyll like, then theyll show that im on a stagetwo level. So youre a stage two, kinda. Kinda, yeah laughs thats the first big smile ive seen all day from you. You feel good . Yeah, i feel relieved, just got that done. What was the hardest part . Just, i dont know, having my mom listen to all that stuff. What stuff . Cause like, my empathy work, about me like talking about how it affected her, just having her hear that, cause thats the first time ive said anything about it to her, so that just, her hearing that just, it just took a lotta stress off my shoulders. How do you feel . I just feel exited now laughs feel like i can do anything, but im not gonna do it. laughs just gonna chill. Keith offers advice to keidrik whose own fight finds him in trouble. So i want to talk to you about whats going on out there with you and wyatt. What about it . Like what happened . Why did it start . He was just running his mouth yesterday. I mean, theres just those words that you dont say and he called me a lame and stuff like that. But you need to also not run your mouth either. Like because sometimes you do be instigating stuff but just chill out, dog. I mean i try to just chill and just like, stay out of peoples way and you see that like i just chill stay to myself. I mean i have that problem too. Like i look at you and i see you as me when i first got here, cuz when i first got here i was messing up, you know that from stuff i told you end up messing around and get extended because im already on that track so. Yeah dog i just want to let you know, keep your head up, and dont let that get to you dog. My friend keith talks to me whenever i need somebody to talk to and stuff like that. Its just, hes really cool with me and stuff like that. He helps me a lot. Ay fellas, were gonna do a quick checkin. Yeah, thank you, keith. So helping keidrik, is that part of moving out of a probationary stage 2 to a fullon stage 2 . It could, yeah, for mentoring him. Do you feel like youre a mentor to him . Yes cause no one else even thinks about talking to him. Like, whenever he engages with anyone else, its just, theyre talking crap to him. Keidrik, how was your day . Um, it was alright. Keidrik is facing a disciplinary hearing for fighting. Under this new system, hell get to cool off with a counselor. Hopefully everything goes good, i mean i was the victim, so im hoping that i dont get found guilty for battery on a client, because i didnt do nothing to cause it. He came at me so, hopefully everything goes good. Hopefully i dont, i dont get charged with anything. Under cambiar there are stages including loss of privileges for the offenders and the unit. Keidrik faces a disciplinary hearing for fighting. At risk a longer sentence. Psh, i could get extended. I could get an extended sentence. Its kinda im kinda nervous right now cuz i really dont want to get extended but if it happens it happens. And here he comes. None of these kids want to go to the penitentiary. And sometimes they act tough. I dont care if i go. But you know what . They do care. They care a lot. And they dont want to end up like friends and relatives. And they dont want to end up dead. He comes out the hearing with the weight of the decision on his shoulders. Psh i got found guilty for it. I thought that [bleep] rushed you . He did. Thats bull [bleep]. Im putting in an appeal for it right now. Ill help you do it alright . Alright. [bleep] man. This bleep]ing [bleep] made that [bleep]. I mean i dont really think this programs helping me. No . Why not . Its not something that i need. Is part of the theory that if you think about it and talk about it and kind of work through it that you come out the other side better . Honestly, i think this place has just made me a better criminal. How do you mean . Ive learned more stuff than i would learn on the outs. The measure of whether cambiar works will be kids like keidrik, vincente and keith who finally gets to see his family for his birthday. Oh, today i get to visit all my mom, and just all my family. Im kinda anxious, cause i havent seen them in a while, so. Specially my niece and nephews, so im kinda anxious to see them. I got a haircut, looking all fresh. Gotta look good for my family, so. He joins them in a room off campus, with guards, shackles, and chains. Is there an up side to being here . Yeah, cause, im more safe than i am being out. Safe . Im not, using drugs anymore, so thats a positive. Im not fighting as much, cause on the outside, [id] fight every day. So its just, uh, that im not getting in as much trouble. I still am. But, im working towards being more positive. Oh i love you i love you too. Being here celebrating keiths birthday was just our way of bringing him a little bit of home. I see a big difference in keith now compared to the other times. He would still look hard and withdrawn. You know . He wasnt as outgoing but we would go visit. And um, now, its totally different. Because hes never done that. Hes never opened up like that before. He has literally cried on the phone, talked about the counselor. Talked about his mentor, and the guards, and so yeah i think this time is for real. [singing happy birthday. ] vicente believes its not cambiar who is being tested here. Its him. Ive talked to other people here who say listen im just learning to be a better bad guy. Nah thats not for me. Is that possible here . It is possible. Anything is possible in here. Like, if you want to come here and learn the negative things of course we have negative things the drugs, the fights, the gangs we do have all that stuff here too. Were you a member of a gang . Yes. Whats with the shrug . Is that like a no but a yes . Ive just been doing it my whole life but then, you know, i dont wanna do it no more. Can you just quit . I could. I would say. They were telling me youre thinking about getting your tattoos removed . Have you gotten some removed already . Yeah im in the process. My fingers are already gone. I can see little bits of ink right like. Theres that and theres that. So it covered your whole fingers basically . Yes maam wow you have a lot. Why do you want to remove your tattoos . Like, honestly, i want to join the military and you cant have nothing that shows. So when you get out and you go back home. Well i really dont want to go back home, but. Can you go some place else . Im gonna try to do the independent living. And if that dont work out, i could stay here in las cruces or albuquerque somewhere. What he doesnt want is to return to the lure of drug, gangs back home. Cambiars biggest test would be whether kids like him can make it on the outside. When he is in his world, you sit there and wonder why he was ever committed. If you didnt know his history, like, whats this kid doing here . He is so talented. I think he is gonna make it. Announcer this is al jazeera. Hello there im Julie Mcdonald this is the news hour live from london coming up, the u. N. 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