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| Branden Staples has made more blankets than anyone else. He's serving time for attempted murder and will be released on Thanksgiving
Day, aided in his readjustment by the Blanket Project. Mary Knox Merrill - staff   Incarcerated Crochet |
Juvenile offenders start life over with a crochet hook
At a facility in Maine, Brendan Staples and other teenagers make blankets in a program that teaches valuable skills and life lessons.
By Clara Germani | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitorfrom the November 21, 2007 edition
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South Portland, Maine - At first glance, stubborn cowlicks and goofy humor are the most unruly things noticeable about the teen-age boys gathered in a late afternoon meeting of the Blanket Project at the Long Creek Youth Development Center.
The group is calm and focused on their hands – the nicked knuckles and nibbled nails of hands gripping crochet hooks. They wrap and hook and pull and release strands of yarn that bloom, inch by inch, into bright creations on their laps. And we're not talking grandma doilies here – we're talking tightly woven blankets that can weigh several pounds and cool monogrammed hats that teenagers would actually be seen in.
But the quiet conversation – about bad dreams and crochet blisters, meds they take and girlfriends outside – wafting from the klatch at this juvenile detention facility belies just who these kids are. Asked how many incarcerations each has, the dozen boys call out numbers – 9, 17, 11 ... to a total of 139. The youngest, an impish 13-year-old in his first day in the crocheting program and hooking an inexpertly loose first few rows of a blanket, reports 14 incarcerations.
Their crimes? Attempted murder, arson, gun-running, drug sales, and more.
In another world – the adult world – these boys would be called felons. At Long Creek, they're juvenile offenders allowed second, third, fourth, and more chances to correct their ways.
But still, Long Creek is a jail. Kids arrive shackled and cuffed. They're patted down every time they come "home" to their 8-by-15-foot locked bedroom cells. They have a life without hip-hop (too violent) that starts at 6:30 wake-up and ends at 9 or 10 p.m. lights-out, and even in this program the crochet hooks and scissors are counted and carefully checked out and in.
The Blanket Project is for those who earn it through good behavior – and once involved, they're careful not to lose the privilege. "Crocheting makes me feel good," says Timma Johnstone, a pony-tailed, 19-year-old arsonist who burned a field "because I was mad at someone." Crocheting a long pink blanket, he adds, "When you're here you can calm down."
Yes, it's touchy-feely, but the program is about more than making the boys feel good.
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