Wanda's Picks

LaKeisha Burton, born and raised in Compton,  lives in Sothern California still after spending 18 years in California Institute for Women (CIW) when at 15 she was arrested and tried as an adult and sentenced to life plus 9 years consecutively, which meant she had to serve 9 years first and then life—she was first at youth authority at Camillo in Southern California, for 90 observation where they recommended she stay in the juvenile facility. The sentencing judge said no, send her to prison. In CIW—she was the youngest person there, so she was in a segregated housing unit or in solitary confinement until she turned 18.  She served 18 years before release in 2006. No one died. Ironically, she met her victim in CIW, asked for and received her forgiveness. The victim, who killed someone, was released from CIW after 9 years. The film "Juvies," screening this evening, May 13, at EastSide Cultural Center, 2277 International Blvd., Oakland, CA, 7-9 PM, looks at the criminalization of children in the CA judicial syste