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First Correction Facility for Black Youth Facing Closure

(EducationNews.org)- In 1897, an African-American man by the name of John Henry Smyth began the Virginia Manual Labor School in Hanover, Virginia.This facility was one of the first programs of its type specifically for African-American boys.

John Smyth passionately believed in the power of education, combined with perseverance, as the key to empowering at-risk African-American males. Smyth, who was born to a free black mother and an enslaved father in Richmond, Virginia, embraced the concept of achievement and accountability as it relates to training and educating youth.

The span of Smyth's professional career includes working as an educator, bank cashier, lawyer, and newspaper editor. He also served as a minister resident and counsel general to Liberia, an African nation founded by freed slaves who had migrated from the United States.

Despite his exceptional professional accomplishments during an extremely oppressive era within American history for African-Americans, Smyth not only exhibited success for himself, but he actively sought out a means of ensuring that young African-American males, instilled with a strong work ethic, would excel as well.

In an effort to realize his vision of empowering at-risk African-American male youth, he founded the Virginia Manual Labor School, which was renamed as the Hanover Juvenile Correctional Center. This is said to be Smyth's greatest legacy to the Commonwealth during a time when it was not only illegal to educate blacks in Virginia, but no formal interventions were in place to assist in rehabilitating youth offenders of color.

Smyth believed so strongly in the power of instilling a solid work ethic into young men that he required the boys within the labor school to work on the school's farm daily. Today, in partnership with the Virginia Department of Corrections and the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice, Smyth's vision lives on as educational, vocational, and rehabilitative services are provided to youthful offenders of all races, economic status, disability levels, cultures, and religions. The mission of John Smyth High School is, "to create life long learners by empowering all students with knowledge, respect, and responsibility."

The student population demographics of the John Smyth is 60 percent African-American, 33 percent Caucasian, and six percent Hispanic, based on the most recent demographic data. Nearly 50 percent of students within the school receive special education services. While some students have solid academic foundations, a significant percentage of students exhibit severe academic deficits, and still for others their incarceration permits them to participate in formal educational programs for the first time in their lives.

In an effort to meet the diverse needs of students within the facility, John Smyth School, in partnership with The Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice, provide a variety of social skill, recreational, and leadership programs that are specific to the Hanover site. These programs include; anger management, substance abuse, sex offender treatment programs, and intramural sports. The Junior Reserve Officers Training Program, (JROTC), and Youth Industries Programs, which focus on leadership development and job readiness, are also offered through the school and DJJ partnership.

The Hanover Juvenile Correctional Facility is one of the only programs within the Commonwealth that provides educational services for middle school-aged offenders. In addition, the facility is also the only site in which the JROTC program instills discipline and leadership qualities within incarcerated youth. Students wear army fatigues as school uniforms, and the overall atmosphere is what one would expect within a highly structured private military school.They are also supported by many dedicated professionals that provide highly specialized services, both, inside and outside the classroom, with the goals of improving academic performance, modifying behavior, and providing social skill instruction for our students.

One common motto that is shared by all is that we are "fighting crime through education."
A majority of Smyth's students thrive within the structured academic environment that is provided by the school. For many of them, this is the first time in which they have received such extensive support with the goal of ensuring their overall success. Many students readily participate in classes as it offers a since of normalcy for them while serving their sentences.

The average student at Smyth is 13-18 years old, and has a length of stay for a minimum of six months. Many welcome going to school as a break from the realities of being incarcerated. They also welcome the opportunity to experience academic success for the first times in their lives, which usually becomes addictive and as a result, directly impacts their views regarding the importance of education and academic achievement when they are released back into their communities.

By closing the Hanover Juvenile Correctional Facility and John Smyth School, Virginia's General Assembly will close the door to a vision that was turned into a reality by the son of slave parents, who was convinced that if given the educational opportunities, a strong work ethic, and the proper supports within a structured environment, Virginia's most at-risk young men would become productive citizens.

While Virginia is facing significant budget restraints at the present time, it is clear that should the General Assembly vote to discontinue this program, the costs to be paid within society as a result of still more youthful offenders not being provided with much needed academic and therapeutic services aimed at rehabilitation will greatly outweigh the expenses required to keep the facility open in the long run.