Visit to Suffolk Jail Delivers
Powerful Message
There is nothing better to drive home the point that jail is a terrible place than to visit a correctional facility and speak with those imprisoned there. More than 80 Huntington High School students recently had such an experience.
The teenagers traveled to Riverhead to visit the Suffolk County Correctional Facility, through Suffolk Sheriff Vincent DeMarco’s “youth enlightenment seminar (YES) initiative. “The program allows teachers to accompany their children into the Riverhead Correctional Facility in order to experience first-hand what life may be like if they end up incarcerated,” said Suzi Biagi, a Huntington business teacher who accompanied the students along with social studies department member Erik Bruckbauer.
The trek to Riverhead included students enrolled in Huntington’s Personal Law, Business Law and Criminal Justice courses. Mrs. Biagi said the 83 teenagers were “nervous, yet excited” for the “once in a lifetime field trip to see the inside of a maximum security facility.”
Inmates who have agreed to participate in the YES program met with groups of students and described how their poor choices led to incarceration. The sessions are aimed at “deterring young people from engaging in criminal behavior by showing them first-hand the potential consequences of such behavior,” according to a program overview.
“Our students got to experience firsthand a very crowded holding cell, toured two housing floors of male and female inmates, met with several inmates who generously shared their stories, participated in a Q & A session with these same inmates and learned about the consequences of poor decision-making and how our justice system works,” said Mrs. Biagi, who has been bringing students to the jail for many years. “It’s an amazing trip that the students will remember forever.”
The jail visit program is offered through the sheriff’s office by appointment only and is designed to provide a realistic lesson for young people about how the wrong path could affect their future.
“Mr. Bruckbauer and I hope that our students use this experience to learn through someone else’s mistakes and heed those warnings,” Mrs. Biagi said. “It’s also a great way for them to contemplate a possible career in law and or criminal justice.”
Huntington guidance counselor Lauren Baglivi accompanied the two teachers and the nearly seven dozen students on the trip. Ms. Baglivi and Mrs. Biagi “coach” 14 of Huntington High School’s freshman seminar program participants. The pair will continue to work with the teenagers until their graduation. Six of those same students were on the recent trip to Riverhead.
Throughout the year the Criminal Justice, Personal Law and Business Law classes explore criminal law, juvenile justice, white collar crime, court systems and procedural law and participate in either mock or moot court trial cases.