http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041019/APN/410190750&cachetime=3&template=dateline
"The best way, I think, to teach the kids here how to behave in normal society is by trying to make this place as normal as possible, within reason," said Bill Byars, director of the state Juvenile Justice Department. "You raise a kid in prison and you're going to raise a criminal."
For the past year and a half, Byars has led an effort to change the culture of juvenile justice. "The Community Behind the Fence," program is an attempt at normal life.
The inmates go to school, to church and work in a small restaurant for agency employees and other inmates.
They take courses that prepare them for jobs in the real world and are required to work toward an equivalency high school diploma.
For cooperating and being good inmates, the kids get perks, like playing sports."
