Scared Straight At 42
Scared Straight is not my dad jumping out of my closet in a Jason mask, trying to frighten the gayness from my body.
It’s a program started by New Jersey inmates in the 1970s to horrify delinquents into staying out of prison.
On paper, the program seems like it would be a smashing success, but studies indicate it might not be as effective as previously thought. Either way, Scared Straight is still going strong today and has even been turned into a television series, of which I’m a huge fan.
That’s why I thought it was so bizarre when I got a call from the Baton Rouge Police Department informing me that due to a clerical error, I never completed my compulsory Scared Straight hours for a felony theft charge I incurred when I was sixteen.
Not one to fight the law, I made my way to Louisiana’s capitol city and pulled into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison to do my time and maybe make a few friends along the way.
As the program is geared toward juveniles, the guards had to inform the children participating in today’s session that they’d be joined by a…
