A New London lawmaker has a plan to keep delinquent kids from becoming adult criminals, The Associated Press reports.
State Rep. Ernest Hewett says he is working with the state Department of Correction on a program in which longtime prisoners would talk to teens who have been in trouble or are headed that way.
The New London Democrat says he got the idea from “scared straight” programs.
He tells The Day that unlike “scared straight” programs, the goal of his plan would not be to frighten youths. He says he envisions older prisoners serving life sentences having calm, sit-down talks with youths about the decisions that led them to prison.
Prisons spokesman Brian Garnett says research has shown that “scared straight” models do not work, so the department is open to Hewett’s idea.
