This letter regards “Police arrest 18-year-old in Lisbon stabbing,” published in the Jan. 27 Sun Journal.

As a formerly incarcerated young person, I know the deep and lasting trauma that lives in kids after being incarcerated, and the trauma young people experience while incarcerated does not stop once you leave detention.

Matthew Newton-Fortin was dealt a rough hand and has been in and out of detention centers, including Long Creek Youth Development Center, since he was 14. How can you expect him to be okay? Young people leave incarcerated settings so traumatized that we’ve lost an understanding of human interaction, including how to handle conflict or connect with people. Our families have moved on, we are behind in school and the state provides limited resources to help.

For the majority of us, the lasting and compounded trauma drives us further into a life of troublemaking.

For a young person incarcerated, there is no going back to how it was before incarceration, and we are stuck dealing with the pain that was forced upon us in a failed attempt at justice. Every single young person, including Matt, deserves to be treated with care, instead of being vilified.

We must stop the cycle of trauma caused by detention in Maine by ending youth incarceration and reinvesting into community alternatives, such as job placement programs, mental health services and housing supports.

Anthony Lee Alfreds, Westbrook

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