About a year ago, Dominique Beach, 18, was a Normandy High School student who was hanging with a “rebellious group” of teens and not expecting to graduate on time, said his mother, Detrecia Beach.
Then he was arrested for a robbery that he didn’t commit. He served 10 months in the St. Louis County Jail before his case was finally dismissed and dropped. He was released on Nov. 4, 2013.
“Now I see why he had to go through it,” Detrecia said. “I look at it as a blessing from God.”
Dominique was put into the jail’s Bridges to Success program, a substance abuse treatment program for inmates under age 21. The program comes under the umbrella of the Bridgeway Behavioral Health agency and is funded through the St. Louis County Children’s Services Fund. There he met Kwame Mensah, who teaches a GED class and life skills.
Dominique said that the program gave him much more incentive and encouragement to achieve his goals than his high school education.
“They would get on us, but they would also point out good things that we could do,” he said. “They would even give us names and numbers of people we should call.”
Dominique said he wouldn’t be applying to colleges right now if he hadn’t gone to jail. And now he’s eligible for scholarships based on his GED test scores.
“Some of our young men in certain zip codes are underserved,” said Mensah, a former St. Louis County Jail corrections officer. “There is a huge population of untapped talent in those areas, and I want to address those.”
Mensah grew up in North St. Louis, and he talks to the youth about the challenges he faced as a young black man and the resources that helped him.
“They need to see people who grew up in these war zones, people who came from these places, survived and are productive citizens,” he said. “For some of them, no one has ever told them that there are people who look like them who have changed their lives around.”
After working in corrections for many years, Mensah decided to go back to school and become a teacher. He taught fourth grade at a charter school and then became a certified GED teacher. Working for Bridgeway for the last two years has allowed him to combine his work in jails and schools, he said.
“Kwame helps us with how to get a job, how to do it right, all the school stuff, the drugs,” said a 19-year-old inmate. “Even if you are convicted of felonies, you can still go to college, start your own business and be a good family man. He helps us with everything. We just need more education.”
Mensah also encourages them to learn about their legal cases and be involved in the court process. While researching his case, Dominique read books on state law and researched other cases like his.
“It was fun,” he said. “It was like solving a puzzle.”
When he met with his attorney, he would have a list of questions.
“Our attorney told me, ‘Do you realize how intelligent your son is?’” Detrecia said. “I’m happy for him and proud of him.”
Once Dominique was released, Mensah encouraged him to work with a counselor at Better Family Life, a partner with the Bridgeway program. The counselor helped him get a job and apply for college.
“When you get them back on the streets, often they only remember bad resources,” Mensah said. “We need to replace them with good pillars of the community.”
