s must receive basic literacy programs, but the truth is only 30% of those have access to the programs. I was very shocked to find out that inmates are being systemically denied an opportunity for individual development. It seems obvious that these inmates are being educated in prison, but really, they aren’t.Prison education is important to me because most of my close friends and relatives were incarcerated at young ages. My uncle Malique is a prime example of a juvenile who took the wrong path in life. Malique was a juvenile who made some crucial mistakes while growing up, and is now paying for it serving time in prison. Malique grew up in North Philadelphia, a neighborhood in which there is nothing but trouble, a neighborhood in which the local schools are over populated and most students don’t receive the proper amount of education needed to succeed. My uncle and I grew up in the same neighborhood, the same household, the same negative influences surrounding us, but the only difference is that I went off to college and he quit school and began to run the streets of a corrupt neighborhood. He became a product of his environment; this is the case with millions of juveniles in prison. These kids never got a chance to do something productive with their lives. It doesn’t take long until bad influences of a violent neighborhood takes its’ toll on a juveniles young mind and changes them for the worst.Most neighborhoods in Philadelphia lack opportunities for the young kids who are growing up there. Most kids are easily influenced by the drugs and violence and usually begin to engage in the two. Most juveniles become addicted to the lifestyle of ignorance and unawareness and become prime candidates for imprisonment. I believe that positive environments and role models are significant factors when dealing with the out come of an individual, and most of these juveniles who are incarcerated in the Plainfield Juvenile Cor...
