A calm oasis at a detention center
Even if you're only a visitor, walking into Shuman Juvenile Detention Center is intimidating.
As you pass through the first few gates, the guards look at you suspiciously and talk to you almost like one of more than 100 young men and women who live at the Lincoln-Lemington facility. There is an incredibly loud buzz when doors open, and the sound of them closing seems even louder.
Then you meet Raymond Robinson, social services manager, and his warm smile puts you at ease. There's a calmness in him that's hard to explain, but it's infectious. If anyone can figure out a way to reach these troubled kids, it's this guy.
As you head down a long hallway, you're struck by how much this part of Shuman looks like a school instead of a jail. The feeling continues outside in the huge courtyard surrounded by rolling lawns and basketball courts. Then we see, off to the right, surrounded by razor wire, a colorful oasis. Sunflowers in yellows and burgundy share space with tomatoes and peppers. Pumpkins and watermelons contrast with zinnias and coleus. A resident in her blue county-issued pants brushes against a basil plant, releasing the unmistakable aroma of a summer garden.
It's the last thing you'd expect to see in here, and that's exactly the idea. The Shuman staff thought a garden might be just the kind of setting where troubled kids could find peace. This is its first year and it hasn't been affected by recent findings by the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare that Shuman was not in compliance with some state regulations. The tools and equipment were donated by Home Depot, and plants, seeds and advice came from Denise Schreiber, greenhouse manager for Allegheny County Parks. The project almost died when there was no tiller to be found, but a staff member stepped forward, spending almost three hours on one of the hottest days of the year doing the initial cultivation.
Four residents join us at a picnic table on the edge of the garden. At first they are cold and unreceptive, erecting a facade of toughness that's served them well in their brushes with the law. Their responses are short and vague, and when I probe for more information, they refuse to look me in the eye. But after 10 minutes, Ashley, Olivia, Adam and Tauvea start to soften. The garden seems to do that to everyone who works here, staff members say.
Until the garden program started, Adam hadn't spent much time outside. Now he relishes his time here. "I felt like I was free again," he says. "I've gardened before. I've got a garden at my house right now — me and my dad keep one every year. I'm used to it."
In the short time we sat together, he showed his expertise. When Olivia and Ashley worried that the produce might be covered in dirt or be filled with bugs, he spoke up. "It is a lot better," he says. "I've got lettuce growing at my house that tastes a lot better than bought lettuce. Me personally, I'd rather eat something out of a garden. It tastes richer."
Olivia acknowledges that working in the garden makes confinement easier to take. Having residents work there encourages them to "do something positive instead of sitting around thinking what they did," she says.
Everyone who has worked out here with the kids has been amazed at the project's impact. James Adams, a youth care worker at Shuman, says many of the residents are territorial; often someone from one neighborhood won't talk to a resident from another. But they'll talk to each other and to staff members in the garden. "It allows us to talk to the kids about anything. I don't know what it is about being out there, but they just open up....The garden just pulls them toward it," Mr. Adams says. "Out on the street, they are hard-core and older than what they are supposed to be. When they come in here, they are like children again."
Brett Douthett, a recreation aide, has had a whirlwind education in gardening. He also has seen the difference it can make — if only for a moment — in one 11-year-old boy. The staff describes him as literally bouncing off the walls. Many doubted that he could succeed in the garden, but Mr. Douthett asked him to plant a long row of flowers along the back of the garden. "While he was in that garden for those 45 minutes to an hour, we heard nothing from him. As soon as he got out of the garden, he went right back to being himself," he says, laughing.
Some people would be discouraged to see the garden's effects didn't last longer. Not Mr. Douthett. "I enjoy every day when I come in here," he says. "These are somebody's kids — somebody loves these kids. I treat them like they are all mine."
Mr. Adams says the garden is not just a place to work. Staff and residents also come here to relax: "The atmosphere just changes when you're in the garden. When they go out there, they don't want to come in. They want to work. They want to unwind." He hopes residents learn life lessons in this green space. "I hope they get that everything is not hard. When you put your hands to the plow, there's a gratification, Sometimes it's not easy, things take time. When you see that result, you'll get a positive attitude."
Shuman can be a tough place to work. Some of these kids are too far along a path of crime to ever come back. But others find a different way.
As our two hours together come to an end, the residents walk with me and point out the things that grow there. Olivia thinks the letters SC, for Shuman Center, should be planted in flowers along a hillside. She finally finds the words to describe why she likes it here: "You hear the birds chirping and see the butterflies flying."
Ashley bends over to look closer at a pumpkin that is forming. Then she points excitedly to her favorite plant, wearing stripes like inmates in an old movie: "See? The watermelons are the best part of the garden because they are pretty."
Doug Oster
23 August 2005
