We’ve all been on fieldtrips to museums and amusement parks, but have you ever been to jail with your class before? Very rare, unless you are a Miami High student enrolled in the Law Magnet Program with Mr. Asper.

In the magnet program, once you become a junior and are taking Constitutional Law, you might be able to attend the “big” fieldtrip. Mr. Asper, the Law Magnet lead teacher, makes a lottery and only 10 students from each of the two classes every year are selected.

This year on October 26, the selected juniors visited the Miami Dade County Pre-Trial Detention Center near Downtown Miami.

As teenagers, making mistakes is very common, but those mistakes can lead you into the wrong direction over time. Mr. Asper said, “The importance of this fieldtrip is to show the students how the corrections system functions and the alternative to a life of crime.”

He mentioned how showing high school students the critical conditions in which the inmates are living will open their eyes and help them stay out of trouble.

Being locked up in a cell for months or even years can be a very terrifying experience which most would prefer to avoid. Junior Jeremy Cortez said, “They had to live among horrid conditions, small cells with more than 5 people among them and rock hard beds which they would have to get used to.”

Rodyna Richards mentioned how, “They eat out the same food every day except on Thanksgiving and Christmas where they receive a hot meal.”   Junior Franco Morris also mentioned, “They were under horrible conditions, eating cold food, and the guards were not very nice.”

On the other hand, junior Jonel Sanchez said, “The security guards made us feel safe and made sure we were always out of danger.”

Many students learned from the fieldtrip. Junior Katheryn Gonzales said, “It sure is not worth being in jail, but I do believe it was worth it for my own experience and made me realize to stay out of trouble and definitely out of jail.”

Rodyna Richards remembers hearing an inmate talk about how one of his own friends turned him into the police. “This taught me at the end of the day that nobody is really your friend and people will stab you in the back and then ask why you are bleeding afterwards.”