Date: Wed, 2 Sep 2015 06:52:05 +0200
From: Rick Masters <succum@gmx.com>
Subject: Juvenile Detention 1

JUVENILE DETENTION

Chapter 1 – The Sentence

Joshua Tolmers sat by himself, if you could call sitting in a holding cell
with ten or twelve other people being by yourself. But he was not talking
to any of the others and knew none of them. Josh was in a state of anguish.
He was confused as to just how he came to be where he was now. He felt
totally alone. It seemed everyone he knew had abandoned him. Even his
parents did not appear to want to know him or admit that he was their son.
And adding to his pain was the certain knowledge that he was innocent, but
no one would believe him. Not his parents, not his lawyer, not the police,
no one. Not one of his friends had come to see him since he was arrested.
Come to that, his parents had only seen him the once, and they had not
organised a lawyer for him, either. He had a state supplied lawyer who
seemed to be approaching the case from a totally wrong angle, and Josh just
knew that things were not going to work out in his favour.

How many times had he gone over the events in his head since that night?
Josh had lost count, and still he could not see how he had not been
released soon after he was arrested. He had been out with one of his class
mates on a kind of double date, without there being any real date in it, to
watch a movie. His class mate had set it up to go to the movie with a girl
he was interested in, but the girl insisted on having a friend with her,
and Josh had somehow been inveigled into making up the number to two
couples.  The two girls had been picked up by one of the girl's fathers as
they stepped out of the cinema. His class mate had just started to learn to
ride a motorbike and having arrived by bike was going home on it too,
leaving Josh to walk home by himself. This did not bother Josh, as he had
often done the walk home from town on his own. It would only take him about
half an hour, which would mean he would be home before midnight anyway.

As Josh drew level with a narrow lane leading off to the right, a largish
group of teens came running out of the lane, parting and forming up again
the other side of Josh. The group came to a sudden halt as police cars with
sirens wailing and lights flashing approached them from both directions
along the road Josh had been walking on. The group turned to retrace their
steps into the lane, carrying Josh along with them, only to be stopped by a
police car coming down the lane from the other side. Josh tried to work his
way out of the group, but there was so much milling around that when he got
near the edge others would move in front of him and give him more people to
try and get past.

The police cars came to a stop with their lights on bright and flashing
lights adding to the illumination, making it impossible for anyone to get
away without being seen. A riot van arrived and several more police jumped
out and surrounded the group. The teens were gradually cuffed and loaded
into a transporter and they were all hauled off to a police station.  Josh
had tried protesting his innocence then, but it did not seem that the
police even heard him let alone believed him.

The processing seemed to take hours. He finally got pulled into the
interview room, where they started off by fingerprinting him and followed
that with a pat down search on him again. Each of the arrested guys had
been patted down as they were loaded into the transporter, but this was a
more careful pat down search. It was obvious to Josh that the police did
not believe his story about walking home from the cinema and ending up in
the wrong place at the wrong time, especially as he could not produce the
stub of his ticket. His class mate had held all four tickets when the usher
tore them and had probably pocketed the tickets himself. Josh gave them the
names of the other three who had been in the cinema with him but could not
give their addresses or telephone numbers because he did not know them that
well. He asked them to call his parents and he had been returned to the
cells for what seemed like a couple of hours before he was pulled out again
and taken into an interview room where his father was sitting. Clearly his
father had already been briefed by the police, and he too did not believe
Josh's story.

His father's parting words were, "You got yourself into this mess and now
you can get yourself out of it or pay the consequences," words that had cut
the poor boy in two. He simply could not believe the direction his father
had taken. And it was mostly because of that action that he had been
remanded from the magistrate's court in custody to today when he was to
appear before a judge in a crown court. Josh wished that he had never gone
to the movies now but knew that he could not change history, and this made
him even more despondent. He had watched enough documentaries on the
television to know that he was as good as done even before he got in front
of the judge. But even in his despair there were no tears. He had cried all
those out each night in the solitude of his cell as he waited for this day
to arrive. Ten long and lonely nights when his mood even drove away his
desire to gratify the sexual needs of a growing teen.

Now he was sitting on a hard bench in clothes that had not been ironed. He
had had to use a prison issue overall and get his own clothes washed. His
parents had not even brought in a change of underwear for him, let alone
some smart clothes to help him make a better impression before the judge.
Now he was clinging to his one and only hope, that the judge would let him
speak for himself and would listen to his story and reasoning and maybe at
least postpone sentencing until what he had to say had been checked. He
knew his lawyer had not bothered to look into it and the police had not
even acknowledged that he had spoken about it at the time of his arrest and
the initial investigation.

Josh was very nervous as he was led into the dock in the courtroom. Looking
around he could not see his parents or anyone else he knew in the
courtroom. His lawyer, Dozen Affald, entered a few seconds after him and
did not even look at Josh as he took his place at the defence table. The
clerk of court gave the call to "all rise" and Judge Devlin entered and
took his seat. This was followed by the clerk reading out the charges being
brought against Josh and the proceedings started. The prosecution put
forward a simple case that as Josh was arrested with the group of other
accused he clearly was part of the group and therefore guilty of the
offences of breaking and looting. His defence lawyer suggested to the judge
that as he had no previous record and no stolen goods were found in his
possession that merely being associated with the group who all had prior
convictions and also had stolen goods in their possession did not make him
guilty also. The lawyer made no mention of Josh's claims to simply have
been in the wrong place at the wrong time and so no mention of any research
to back up Josh's claims was made either. To back up the prosecution's
case, they had called on the police to describe the nature of the arrest
and subsequent investigations and again there was no mention made of Josh's
claims to be innocent and his explanation of how he had been there at that
time. But now for the first time Josh actually heard what had happened. The
large group of teens had been at a private party where they had been able
to access alcohol, even though they were underage, as well as some pot and
ecstasy. Bored with their party they had taken to the streets and began to
smash shop windows and steal any goods they could reach through the
windows. The whole hearing had taken less than half an hour.

The judge looked at Josh and said, "Young man, you are not making a good
start on your road to adult life. I am going to give you the opportunity to
think about it while you spend six months at the Youth Correction Academy
and during that time I hope you decide to make a change and put some effort
into being a better citizen of this kingdom." He smacked the gavel down and
the court officer standing next to Josh pulled on his arm to lead him away.

"Wait, please, can't I say something?" Josh called out but the judge
ignored it and left the bench as the clerk called out for everyone to stand
again.

As Josh was being led back to the cells under the courts he asked the guard
who was with him what had just happened.

"You have been sentenced to six months at the Academy and believe me you
will come out of there a different person, you poor sod," the officer told
him.

"Can't I appeal or anything?" Josh asked.

"Your lawyer will have to do that if you want it, but judging by how he was
in there you have no chance of even seeing him again, let alone getting him
to lodge an appeal," the officer said. The officer had seen many teens go
through the court and had escorted most of them back to the cells just as
he was doing for Josh now and he had developed an instinct for things. This
made him feel sorry for Josh, because he did not think that Josh had had a
fair trial. But he had nothing substantial to go on and no power to help
ones like Josh.

As the officer locked Josh into another cell he said, "I might not see you
again. You will be picked up and taken to the Academy. I don't think you
deserve it, and you are not going to like it, but I can't do anything about
that either. I am sorry. My advice is, no matter how unpleasant or
distasteful the things you are asked or made to do, go along with
them. Don't try to fight the system, because you will not win and you will
suffer more for it. Take care, and good luck."

"Uh, thank you. Um, I didn't see my parents in the court. Will they be told
what has happened?" Josh asked

"Yes, they should be told. Maybe they will sort out an appeal for you," the
officer said.

"I doubt it. If they cared they would have got me a lawyer to do a proper
job instead of that guy in there," Josh said pointing upwards.

The officer looked at Josh in disbelief. He could tell that Josh was not a
bad lad and this meant that he had had a half decent home life at least,
which did not seem to correspond with his parents' actions. "I am really
sorry. I wish there was something I could do, but I can't. My role here
prevents me from doing what I would really like to do. All the best." And
he turned and walked away, leaving Josh alone to wait for his transport to
the Academy.

Josh looked about him and became even more despondent. The walls were
supposed to be a dull green, but were grey with age and grime. There was a
cold concrete slab along one wall that formed the bench or bed; Josh was
not sure which. In one corner there was a toilet bowl with a seat and a
push button in the wall above it to flush it. There was no basin to wash up
with after using that facility and no toilet paper either, so clearly you
were not expected to use it for anything other than taking a piss. The door
was black and the viewing shutter was closed, isolating Josh completely. He
sat down on the concrete slab rested his elbows on his legs and buried his
face into his hands. Inside himself he was sobbing, but there were no tears
left to be shed. No reason to shed them anyway, as they would not help him
in any way. Nothing and no one was going to help him. Josh suddenly
realised that he was going to have to cope entirely on his own, and as he
thought about it all a steely resolve began to build inside him.

He was going to do whatever he had to do to get through the next six
months. Then when he was released he was going to find a job and somewhere
to live. He was not going to even try to see his parents. He was going to
make it on his own and he was going to find a way to make the lawyer and
the police pay for their failure to be fair with him. Yes they would pay,
but he was not going to risk going to jail for them. No! He was going to
learn how to do it legally and when the time came he would be sitting in
the court room looking at them in the dock and hearing a judge pronounce
sentence on them. The more he thought about it the more determined he
became. And that officer who had led him down would also get something.
Except he would get something good. Josh wasn't entirely sure just what or
how, but the officer was the first person who had shown him an inkling of
kindness and had renewed his hope in the world. Yes, he, Joshua Tolmers,
was going to make some people sit up and realise their failures and
hopefully prevent some other "poor sod" ending up the way he had. Josh was
not sure if he was fooling himself or not, but it did give him something to
cling to. Remembering the officer's words, Josh repeated to himself that he
would put up with whatever came his way while he was in the Academy to keep
his time there to the minimum he could. Little did he know just what was
going to be asked of him. But Josh was a young man with determination and
will to survive whatever the odds.

Fortunately having these things to think about helped to pass the time,
because Josh waited nearly three hours before his transport came. During
those three hours he had heard movement outside his cell door, but with the
viewing hatch closed he had not been able to see anything going on, and no
one had come to even offer him a drink of water. The change in sounds of
the key being put into and turned in the lock of his cell warned Josh that
something was about to happen. The door opened and two officers came in.

Come with us. We are going for a little ride." The officer who had spoken
grabbed Josh by the arm rather roughly.

"I won't give you any trouble, sir," Josh said and began to walk.

The other officer spoke for the first time. "Good. That's what we like to
hear. You do that and we will get along well."

Josh was led out through a long corridor and a double locked portal before
he passed through a door into the open air. A few yards away stood a Zafira
with tinted windows. Josh was a bit shocked as they led him towards this
car. He had thought that he would be put in the back of some sort of van or
similar. One officer opened a door and then told Josh to turn around so
that his back was to the officer. The officer released one of his hand
cuffs and then told Josh to get in the back seat of the Vauxhall. Once he
was in the guard put the seat belt on him and locked the cuff around a
steel pole that was fixed between the floor and the ceiling of the car. The
two officers got in the front seats, started up, and moved off to the
gate. After showing something to the guard on the gate, they went through
the first gate and waited for it to close and the second gate to open. Then
they were out onto the public roads for the two hour journey to the Youth
Correction Academy.