i watched.

this documentary on HBO today about riker's island & the island academy. basically it's this high school for boys within the riker's correctional facility in NYC. it was pretty interesting to say the least. all the young men were working towards getting GEDs. some were poets/writers, artists, etc. it was kind of sad, though 'cause one of the boys turned 19 before he could graduate so he was transferred to the adult dorms which was basically the regular part of the jail.

they also showed one boy named santiago who went to the island academy and was released & the documentary made a point to show how difficult it was for him to adjust to the outside world again. he was always smoking pot while looking for a job & one day his probation officer made him take a test & according to his parole officer if there was any illicit shit in his body, he'd automatically be referred to a drug program. sure enough, he tested postive so before he could continue looking for a job -- he had to go through & FINISH this drug program. i felt so bad for him. he was really fucking up.

but there was about 10-15 boys who graduated & got their GEDs and their parents came up to the school. it was so cute. they were so happy. it was interesting because before the end of the documentary, it gave a follow up of all of the main characters & most of them hadn't even enrolled in college or found a job anything. kind of weird but overall it was a pretty informative. they said that there are more than 130,000 teenagers in jail in the U.S. today. & that eight of ten teenagers arrested will be re-arrested within in a year. crazy shit.

you gotta live with your choices.