Homegrown hip-hop talent Briggs recently took a visit to the Reiby Juvenile Justice Centre in New South Wales, a detention facility for young A-class offenders just on the outskirts of southern Sydney.
As News Corp notes, his visit was part of Vice‘s Incarceration Issue, a special edition of the magazine which takes a look at the growing number of Indigenous people locked up around Australia.
“They’re just kids,” Briggs told News Corp. “I just want to show a real human side to the story and I feel like when kids are labelled criminals it dehumanises them.” He hopes the short doco will change that image.
“You don’t want to ever be talking to a kid who’s so young and already in so much despair. The only outlet for them is to self harm. They feel like suicide is the answer. I think because I’ve grown up with these kind of kids it wasn’t really a shock but it’s really sad.”
“I was there from 8am-6pm meeting all these different kids. The suicide guard is heartbreaking but there are so many other difficult stories. There was a kid with a picture of his sister on his wall who he clearly misses.”
The ‘suicide guard’ is a padded suit that keeps troubled kids from self-harming and Briggs takes the time to sit down and play cards with one boy who’s been placed in the suit for his own protection.
It’s just one of many powerful and heartbreaking moments in the doco. You can watch the full 15-minute documentary below.
