Inside Portland's Juvenile Detention Center, a Music Literacy Program Is Giving Youth the Tools To Tell Their Stories

"Donald E. Long Juvenile Detention Center (DEL) abuts high concrete walls, dividing Interstate 84 from Portland's North Tabor neighborhood. It's shielded from view, tucked into the kind of street configuration that provokes wrong-turns and dead-ends. As with other reformatories, prisons, or jails, from the outside, the facility looks nondescript, with only a hefty amount of barbed wire coiled above its own tall walls to distinguish it from any other building."

"For the past few years, that wait has been scored by a vibrant music literacy program, turning heads, ears, and bending the future toward greater promise for a number of youth on the inside. Jody Redifer says the name Books to Beats wasn't his idea. The program's title arrived years into his work with youth at the center and a curriculum he co-created with DEL teacher David Shine."

"Redifer began tending the physical library at DEL in November 2019, part of a then-new position through the Multnomah County Department of Community Justice. Already a librarian with Multnomah County Library (MCL), Redifer is also a Black cultural advocate-an additional focus created to strengthen the library system's ties to the Black community. DEL's population is typically about 75 percent BIPOC, with approximately 300 youths filing through in a calendar year, staying on average 27 days."

Donald E. Long Juvenile Detention Center houses pre-adjudicated youth behind high concrete walls adjacent to Interstate 84, with many detained while awaiting hearings, probation decisions, or determinations of juvenile versus adult charges. A music literacy program called Books to Beats operates inside, using song analysis, discussion, and a curriculum co-created by Jody Redifer and DEL teacher David Shine to engage participants. The program reframes detention time into learning, cultural literacy, and creative expression. Redifer serves as a librarian and Black cultural advocate through Multnomah County Library and a county justice position, supporting a largely BIPOC youth population.

Read at Portland Mercury