Here's How Artwork is Fighting Against Youth Incarceration

By Yaba Ahounou

RICHMOND, Va. - Two 160-feet tall banners flank City Hall with a message intended to be visible by legislators at the State Capitol one block away. Each showed a man and a woman in black and white along with the following text written in red: We dream of a world where all youth are free; We can love ourselves; We can shape our future; We are free.

GRTC buses drive around the city with a black and pink bus wrap with the same texts written in white. A 44-by-8 feet mural hangs on a wall at Third and Broad streets.

All three art installations are part of a larger project called “Freedom Constellations: Dreaming of a World Without Youth Prisons.”

Two banners on City Hall with digital illustrations after scanning a QR code from the pink sidewalk banner. Photo by: Yaba Ahounou

GRTC announced on Twitter October 17 a new bus wrap reflecting the mural featuring local youth activists from RISE for Youth and Performing Statistics. This is the first time the bus service collaborated with its nonprofit and philanthropic partners, according to the thread.

CEO Julie Timm said the bus wrap reflected the values and purposes with their partners, expressing a brighter future for the youth communities creating hope and opportunities.

“GRTC connects people physically and metaphorically to their destinations, and elevating their positive message from youth connects us among for our collective future vision,” she stated in the tweet.

The “Freedom Constellations” started in June 2015. Richmond artist Mark Strandquist, Performing Statistic’s creative director, and RISE for Youth activists Ta’Dreama McBride and Clyde Walker, created the monumental portraits covering City Hall, according to the project website.

Near the plaza at the intersection of North Ninth and East Marshall streets is a pink, vertical banner with QR codes. Powered by computer science non-profit CodeVa, the codes prompted a virtual art display and words from youth organizers who were incarcerated.

Their main message: shut down all youth jails and prisons across the country.

Photo of the pink banner about the Freedom Constellations on the sidewalk near the intersection of North Ninth Street and East Marshall Street in front of John Marshall House. In order to access the digital art, scan the provided QR codes. Photo by: Yaba Ahounou

Nearly 700,000 children under 18 in the U.S. were arrested in 2019, according to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Virginia reported 629 of those arrests.

Virginia currently has one youth prison operating and overseen by the state’s Department of Juvenile Justice: Bon Air Juvenile Corrections Center located in Bon Air.

Beaumont Juvenile Corrections Center, located in Beaumont, closed down in 2017. The Culpeper Juvenile Corrections Center, located in Mitchells, closed down in 2014 and reopened three years later as a women’s prison.

Criminal reform advocate groups including RISE for Youth say that youth prisons bring racial and economic disparities and educational disadvantages to kids and their families.

African-Americans ages 16 and younger are six times more likely to get arrested than whites even though they make up 20% of the state’s youth population, according to nonprofit research organization Urban Institute.

It costs $214,207 per year in 2020 to send one child to prison in Virginia rather than to fund their education, according to the Justice Policy Institute. Parents of incarcerated children were required to pay incarceration fees to the state, until this year. The bipartisan bill HB 1912 became effective in July eliminating the “pay to stay” practice after families spoke up about it.

The banners will be on display until Nov. 30. To learn more about the “Freedom Constellations” and the #NoKidsinPrison campaign, visit https://www.performingstatistics.org/.