Dolson’s reflections on Fingerprinting trip

It is always interesting to me when I take people to Bon Air for their first time.  This time, Maria was in the car with me, and I found myself playing tour guide, wanting to explain the things we were passing on the way.  We go over the river on the Huguenot bridge and I am reminded how Richmond divides itself, and the river marks a boundary some people still are still unwilling to cross.  I started explaining about the name–Bon Air, about how this area was the vacation area for people who wanted to get out of the bad air and heat of the city.  And I was struck by the irony of the name in a way I hadn’t been before.  For the youth in the facility, I wonder if this place seems like a vacation from home. It is set back in a wooded area… Some of them come from abusive situations and violent urban neighborhoods.  But some of them come from poor rural areas and abusive situations.  The one thing all of them have in common is poverty.  But I have never met a single youth who wasn’t yearning to go home.  They do all hate the facility and being locked up, and being bored. Bon Air–is it good for their health?