Take kids to Jail!

No I am not being facetious. Let me explain my headline. Last night I took my trainee on a field trip to the Main Jail. Every day after work I pass this tall, imposing structure and when I used to work dayshift I could hear the inmates yelling and playing baskteball but I had never gone to jail to visit the facilities. Now I'm sure we all have our images of what the Jail is like inside. Well it was much worse in reality! It was smelly and stinky and the holding cells were dirty. Also I was wearing my uniform so I got stared at which totally made me uncomfortable and a little paranoid. Fortunately we visited late at night and so most of the inmates were asleep and the only people awake were those who were down on the main floor and were getting booked into jail. It is not a pretty place and I think that kids should at least go and visit it once in their life, preferably during their formative year around 8y-13y. Then they can see the reality of what they will end up in if they don't keep to the straight and narrow path. Yes it will scare the kids but in this case I think it is a good scare. Reality at its purest form.