A Letter to Papa(N/A)

BAD BOYZ

Is the pen name of a 16 year old who has been in and out of custody for a variety of offences.  He is currently serving a lengthy sentence for Armed Robbery and wrote the three pieces while in an area secure custody facility.  Workers were frustrated with him, stating that “He will not participate in counselling”, “He does not want to get out of trouble” and “Good luck working with him”.  BB has a history of severely alcoholic mother, domestic violence followed by the departure of his father from his family, witnessing and then becoming heavily involved in drug and alcohol abuse and violent behaviour.  He makes it appear as if he knows very little and has spent a lot of effort convincing others that he is stupid, mostly responding to questions with “I don’t know”.  This is the same guy who can make college level presentations in class.  BB, therefore, initially did not want to talk much about himself in a direct fashion so he was asked “How does one stop a young offender?”  After this write up, he wanted to create a piece on “Young Offender Cupcakes” and later suggested “A Letter To Papa” with a noticeable sarcastic tinge to it.  The themes carried throughout these 3 writings are very common among the young offender population and are critical in our understanding of how they end up hurting others and eventually behind bars.

Thanks

Jeff Packer