Young people are too often victims of our broken criminal justice system. 1 in 14 US children either has or has had a parent behind bars. And too often their teachers, administrators, guidance counselors, and even their own friends routinely overlook or stigmatize these young people as troubled, or trouble. 

To talk about the experiences of youth impacted by the justice system, host Ali Muldrow welcomes back to the show Victor Trillo Jr. and Amy Friedman, to talk about the collection, Home and Away.

They talk about the profound hopefulness of youth artists impacted by incarceration, deportation, and detention. Their organization, PATHfinder, publishes a book every year, but Friedman says she’s seeing more and more participants submitting work anonymously in response to an increasingly stressful and fearful political climate. Trillo says that poetry, stories, and art are the answer to the issues we’re facing today. 

Writing is a space where young people can put big emotions, and it’s a place where they can ground themselves. That kind of self-expression serves the youth. Friedman reminds listeners that when you lock someone up, you’re locking up a whole family and disrupting a whole ecosystem. But these poems, stories, and art, also speak to the conditions of being a teenager in 2025. Trillo says he keeps doing this work because it the spirit of optimism and resilience he sees in these youth is contagious.

Amy Friedman is an author, editor, and criminal justice activist, who founded POPS the Club in 2013, as an inclusive space for youth who have been stigmatized and silenced by their experiences with the criminal justice system. Having been previously married to a man who was in prison, Amy’s stepdaughters inspired her to find a way to support youth in ways that her girls never were.

Victor Trillo, Jr. is a founding team member of The PATHfinder Club and works as the Program Manager for The PATHfinder and POPS the Club, employing his deep understanding of the impact of incarceration on individuals, first as the son of a man who was in prison throughout Victor’s childhood, and later incarcerated himself. He is a powerful advocate for children of the incarcerated.

Featured image: the cover of Home and Away.

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