Make a Difference--Prison Volunteers

In less than a week, Toastmasters from District 67 will hold two consecutive demo meetings in Mandarin for prison officers at Taipei Juvenile Detention Center Monday and Tuesday, June 22nd and 23rd. Hopefully the prison volunteers initiatives will be accepted and recognized by the Ministry of Justice, so that prison volunteers can appy the communication and leadership skills they acquire in Toastmasters to help incarcerated people at juvenile detention centers and prisons in Taiwan. Toastmasters don't give up upon themselves, let alone kids at the centers or on the streets.

For juvenile detention centers in Taiwan, we can adopt Youth Leadership Program and we can charter gavel clubs for juveniles. It is not a dream to organize a speech contest for kids at detention centers if we coach them how to organize their thoughts, control their fears and emotions, face failtures, stand up from where they fall, and eventually gain self-esteem. It would be the ultimate goal to organize a speech contest outside the detention centers to give those who once make a wrong choice in life to turn into winners of their own and prove to the outside world that they are worthy and to win respect from family and friends again.

There are now over 100 juveniles incarcerated at Taipei Juvenile Detention Center. They are dividied into four classes, including one for girls and one for high-risk offenders. Like all juvies around the world, many incarcerated juveniles have mental retardation, learning disabilities, and emotional disturbances. For more information about the surroundings of Taipei Juvenile Detention Center, please see the mircofilm produced by Taipei Juvenile Detention Center.

In American criminal justice systems a youth detention center, also known as a juvenile detention center (JDC), juvenile hall or, more colloquially as juvy, is a secure residential facility for young people, often termed juvenile delinquents, awaiting court hearings and/or placement in long-term care facilities and programs. Juveniles go through a separate court system, the juvenile court, which sentences or commits juveniles to a certain program or facility. There are 120,000 juveniles incarcerated in detention centers across the United States. Upon release, 75% will either retrun to prison or die on the street.

Toastmasters training is proven to reduce recidivism in the US. Let's join hands to help incarcerated juveniles and adults learn communication and leadership skills in Toastmasters and become better persons in the society.