All Nomad Group, Red Cliff Ascent

All Nomad Group, Red Cliff Ascent

Suitable Placement: Juvenile Justice in America (2006 -)

Photograph

The Richard Ross Collection

Male, 15, from San Jose, where he lives with his mother, stepdad, and three sisters. “I don’t get along with my stepdad, who is a contractor. My mom stays at home.” He is a sophomore in high school. He was brought here by transporters and has been here 13 days. He is made to wear a red jumpsuit as a “flight risk.” At home, he smokes weed, hates school, and focuses a lot on music. “I play guitar--any and every genre. I wasn’t skipping school. My mother doesn’t know me very well. My parents are divorced. I am more like my dad. My mother doesn’t like that I am so much like my father. I don’t listen to her—she goes against me all the time. My mother hasn’t written me. I am just doing my work and I want to get out of here.”

© Richard Ross

United States