Within the beauty and wealth of Malibu there are three juvenile probation camps that are very separate from the community. But last Saturday the boys from Camp Kilpatrick had the opportunity to share their stories.
Suzie Duff started the program “Locked Up fifteen years ago. The program offers the boys an improvisation class where they can open up about their pasts.
Last Saturday, the Malibu United Methodist Church invited locals to come and watch the boys skits and talk one-on-one about gang issues.
Concerns about bringing these types of programs to Malibu and the locals wanting to shut them down were experienced in the past, however, after viewing the skits the fears and concerns from the locals no longer exist.
Suzie Duff says the motivation behind her program is the little locked up angels. These angels have raped murdered and pillaged but they are little boys who have grown up in an environment of violence. They remain locked up only thirty miles from the land of milk and honey.”
Doctor of Psychology Thomas Martinez has worked extensively with these boys and has found that many of them are just children that are more scared of the Malibu community than the violent towns they grew up in. Many of them joined gangs at a young age because they wanted to gain acceptance and have a support system.
Suzie Duff is currently working on “Locked Up’s” next program.