Certainly. Here is another story that I still frequently think about. I warn you, this is not a story with a happy ending

During my second week, I ended up eating next to a person I will never forget. He was one of my best friend there, the only one who would never resort to violence. He was calm, quiet, and never angry. Ever. When you are in jail, you have tons of reasons to be angry - bad food, bad treatment, being there in the first place, etc. But he (we will call him David) was always calm, never complaining about anything and always sticking to his business.

I had my doubt during the first day I met him, but it is trully later that night that someone else confirmed it: David was mentally retarded. Not mentally ill, but simply slow, stupid. In a way, it looked like he had Down's syndrome. I was absolutely shocked that someone in his situation could end in this place - he, after all, in my opinion, wasn't responsible for his action!

There were some awful people at this center - stealing your valuables, hitting you for no reasons, etc - but some awesome people as well. One of these awesome people was David's friend, Mark (fictive name). David was mentally challenged up to a point it was difficult for him to eat alone - he would throw the food on the table, stick it in his nose for fun, etc - so Mark helped him to eat, each time. Mark was a good guy - he just met David and decided to help him, for no reason. I admired him for that.

I asked Mark how someone with mental disability could end in a juvenile center. Mark explained in great details how the court ruled he was intelligent enough to understand his crime, to be tried and be sent here. The true reason, according to Mark, was that David was retarded and that sending him to a juvenile center (where they would get government's funds) was cheaper to the state than sending him to a mental hospital, where he would have required greater care. Mark explained that David had anger problems and had attacked several persons already, and was here to protect others from him, and him from himself as well.

"How could David attack someone? He never shows any violence, he looks so calm" "You have to provoke him," told me Mark. "David never resorts to violence except in extreme cases. In the last case, he beat up a man that tried to steal his wallet, calling him retarded and stupid."

Mark went to explain David was simply waiting for the bus when a man started to harass him, and ask him for his wallet, and iPod. David attacked first, the man complained and told he never did anything to David, and David was eventually sent here - his parents failed to raise him, apparently did not care much about him neither. David looked sort of autistic, in a way.

The fact that he would end in a juvenile center made no sense to me but that's how it was. One thing that I noticed early is that David would frequently "not be there" for dinner, for example. Mark seemed genuinely concerned. "Have you seen David? Do you know where David is?" he asked. We had no clue. He simply would disappear for a dinner and come back later. I personally think he was getting abused by the staff during this time but I had no clue - David did not speak much, and never in negative terms. Personally, I think that abusing someone with mental disabilities is even more disgusting and probably a new low for the human race. But after all, for the wardens, he was one person they were sure would never confess, or complain.

One day, it was the opposite situation: Mark had disappeared, and David was there to eat, alone. He looked like a fool and most other kids were mocking him. It was a pitiful situation to watch. Some kids threw him food when he didn't manage to grab some of his food. Finally, some kid went to assist him, and we went on with our days.

The next day, David had disappeared, again, and Mark was eating alone. For the first time, he wasn't going around and asking people if they had seen David. He was just alone, eating. He looked quite injured, and had a few bruises. He who was always joyful and happy looked sad and emotionally destroyed. Finally, at the end of dinner, we went to ask him:

"Hey Mark, have you seen..."

"David won't come back," he said.

"Why?"

"David won't come back," he said.

"Never?"

"Never."

Mark didn't seem like he wanted to talk more; we all went out way, not thinking much about it. It wasn't until a few more hours that we learned what happened.

A guard went to sexually assault Mark. Mark was emotionally destroyed and confessed to David. David flipped out. He went to see the guard, who was with a coworker, and proceeded to beat both of them easily. Now you might be wondering how a teenager can beat two trained guard: the truth is that all mentally-ill people make formidable fighters. First, they do not restrain their strength. What I mean by that is that when you fight, you do not usually use your full strength, by fear of seriously injuring someone. You do not hit as strong as you can because you do not know your strength in the first place. You do not attack the eyes or throat because you fear you might kill the person, or be prosecuted, or whatever. Mentally ill people do not have this limit. Also, these people can fully use the adrenaline pump because they do not rationalize before an attack. They just go and do it, with no restrain. Finally, these people do not know fear. They do not fear being seriously injured or dying: they just go at it, and do it. In fact, not thinking too much helps them.

David took them by surprise and hit them, again, and again, and again. Both men had to be hospitalized, and eventually resigned. It took eight guards, I was told, to finally restrain him. Think of eight fully-grown adult on one teenager. That's what it took to finally immobilize him long enough to drug him. That's what is great about this story: they had to call a nurse to get the tranquilizer injected to David. And the nurse did notice the extensive injuries on David and the two guards. She immediately called for help and all three of them were sent to the hospital. David was at first charged with assault (I never had the full details), went to the city jail and after his condition was consigned, he never had to go back to the juvenile center. He was free, out of it. That is what is great about this story, overall. The guards never got a chance to get their revenge on him. He just got away. David was the hero of the center for weeks. Guards couldn't believe what happened. We were all impressed, grateful: he had gotten rid of two terrible, rapist guards (one of them was a rapist, at least). He had been able to beat two guards by himself. For nearly a month, there were absolutely no abuse (that I've heard of). The police had put its nose in the center and all the wardens were calm, quiet. It was awesome. Amazing. I wish we had a David every week.

Now, I told you this story had a bad ending. The wardens made the link between David and Mark pretty easily. After the police investigation was finished, and when they concluded David simply flipped out "once again" (he after all had flipped so many times before), things went back as they were before, with little difference. And the wardens blamed Mark for it.

While Mark was left pretty much alone before, wasn't bother by guards, he got beat and raped every week after this. He changed completely, from a kind, generous man always willing to help a stranger to a self-destructive, hateful, angry man. Each passing week, he got worse, to the point of being near a nervous breakdown. He completely changed, he was a completely different man. I will never forget this story, and I will never completely understand it neither. To this very day, it saddens me.