Years ago, my oldest was making his way through the ranks of the Boy Scouts, and as one of his scout leaders, I was looking for interesting field trips to help the boys earn their next scouting badge.
If you know anything about scouting, you know there is a merit badge for almost everything. If you know young boys, whatever you do better be interesting or you'll have your hands full.
This particular month we were working on the crime prevention merit badge and one option included a visit to a local jail or detention center. Turns out, the Gwinnett County Jail in Lawrenceville provides tours.
Our tour started in the courtroom where the boys learned the variety of ways they might find themselves standing before a judge. Things grew quiet when the officer assigned to us began explaining how the law requires three-balanced meals a day, but they don't require the food taste particularly delicious.
He noted the Gwinnett jail is a direct supervision pretrial detention facility, meaning if you are accused of a crime and awaiting trial, you are detained at this facility until your court date, sometimes for as much as a year or more. Our officer noted, "You might be arrested for let's say, excessive speeding, and find yourself sharing a cell with an axe murderer." That might not actually be true, but it sounded sufficiently terrifying.
Next was a cell unit tour. Stepping behind these heavily secured doors looked exactly like prison — devoid of all color, clean in an antiseptic way, windowless and serious. When offered to step inside an actual cell our Scouts peeked through at the sparse beds, little to no possessions, and bare toilets, but seemed afraid to walk fully into the cell for fear the door just might be shut behind them.
Our next stop on the tour was the processing area, where the boys learned how drunk drivers or someone jacked up on drugs might need restraint. While we waited for another safety clearance, I leaned over to the oldest in the group, a young man with his freshly earned driver's permit in his pocket, and asked him what he thought of the tour so far. He whispered back, "I am never doing anything to put myself in here."
My goal had not been to scare the Scouts, and I can't say if they've stayed out of trouble since that evening. I've lost track of most of them as they've grown up. I do know my adult son remembers the tour to this day as a cautionary tale.
To coordinate a tour for your group of impressionable teens, age 13 and over, contact the Gwinnett County Jail at 770-619-6610.
Karen Huppertz has lived in Gwinnett County for 13 years. Reach her at karenhuppertz@gmail.com.
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