(TargetLiberty.org) – A teenage girl from Michigan has been incarcerated in a juvenile detention center since May – for not doing her online coursework. The girl, identified only as Grace, has ADHD and has had problems at school and home before. She was placed on probation after having a fight with her mother and stealing a cell phone. One of the terms of her probation was to keep up with her schoolwork. When she fell behind, off to detention she went. As details of her case emerge, it seems worrying that someone can be locked up so easily for such a trivial offense.
A 15-year-old in Michigan was incarcerated during the coronavirus pandemic after a judge ruled that not completing her schoolwork violated her probation. “It just doesn’t make any sense,” said the girl’s mother. https://t.co/huGfIDgfkA
— MPR News (@MPRnews) July 15, 2020
Grace says her ADHD has made it hard for her to concentrate on schoolwork through lockdown because she’s not being supervised and guided. It’s being reported that her caseworker applied to have her incarcerated before talking to her teacher, and found a judge who was willing to sign the order. However, when the caseworker finally did contact the teacher, she was told that Grace was “not out of alignment with most of my other students…” in terms of her schoolwork.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer issued an executive order in March to prevent the detention of juveniles except in extreme circumstances. According to Grace’s teacher, this is not the case here and she doesn’t think the teen should be locked up.
Nevertheless, she’s been incarcerated for two months and her next review hearing is in September – all for missing some homework.
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