Kids Behind Bars – Cherie Livett Bombell

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Research on Illinois Training School for Girls

May 31, 2022 Cherie Bombell No comments

Tweet Hello Followers! It’s been a long time since this site has functioned. My apologies. I think the problems are well on the way to being fixed. I want to ask those of you that were at Geneva if you’d be interested in being interviewed by a reporter doing investigative research on the institution. She’s […]

Returning to Geneva

July 8, 2012 Cherie Bombell 4 comments

Tweet Brenda and I will be visiting the site of the former Geneva Girls School in August 2012. If you’d like to join us, please contact me via ‘Contact Me’ on this site. We’ll spend some time at the cemetery and pay our respects to the children buried there as well as those that spent […]

Kids Behind Bars Cemetery, Detention Centers, Fox River, Geneva Illinois, Geneva Illinois Girls School, graveyard, Illinois State Training School for Girls, reform school

Savage

July 2, 2011 Cherie Bombell No comments

Tweet Savage. His name was on my mind when I woke up this morning. Savage was the nick name of a young Puerto Rican man on Wallace Cottage. He was a born leader. He had poise and an air of authority that the other young men respected and looked to for direction. It eked out […]

Kids Behind Bars Department of Corrections, Detention Centers, Geneva Illinois, Geneva Illinois Girls School, Illinois State Training School for Girls, incarcerated, Juvenile justice, Outward Bound, Poverty, Santa Rosa, young offenders

Inmate’s Room

June 16, 2011 Cherie Bombell 20 comments

Tweet Imagine living in this much space. A tiny cell. Other areas of your ‘home’ are shared with at least 20 other people. There is no where to ‘get away’ except to your room and you can’t necessarily escape to your own space without permission. Prior to the early ’70, all activities were strictly controlled […]

Kids Behind Bars 1970s, behavior modification, Cemetery, Department of Corrections, Detention Centers, Geneva History Center, graveyard, Illinois State Training School for Girls, incarcerated, prison cell, reform school, young offenders

Illinois State Training School c. 1970

June 14, 2011 Cherie Bombell 67 comments

Tweet This is how I remember Illinois State Training School for Girls, Geneva, Illinois. I used to park my car in the lot just opposite the guard station then walk through the middle of the grounds to Geneva Cottage or to Oak and Wallace Cottage on the right (just out of the picture). The cemetery […]

Kids Behind Bars 1970s, Cemetery, Department of Corrections, Detention Centers, Geneva Illinois, Geneva Illinois Girls School, graveyard, incarcerated, young offenders

Who Was Sadie Cooksey?

June 13, 2011 Cherie Bombell 5 comments

Tweet The following information and photograph was kindly provided by the Geneva History Center. “Beginning July 23, 2011, the Geneva History Center museum will host Who Was Sadie Cooksey?, a photographic traveling exhibition developed by Maine photographer Maggie Foskett. The genesis of this exhibition reaches back to 1979, when Foskett stumbled onto an isolated cemetery […]

Kids Behind Bars Cemetery, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Department of Corrections, Detention Centers, Geneva History Center, Geneva Illinois, Geneva Illinois Girls School, graveyard, Illinois State Training School for Girls, incarcerated, Juvenile justice, Maggie Foskett, reform school, University of Maine at Presque Isle Reed Art Gallery, Who Was Sadie Cooksie?, young offenders

Geneva History Center Exhibition

June 11, 2011 Cherie Bombell 5 comments

Tweet In July, the Geneva History Center will host an exhibition titled Who Was Sadie Cooksey?. This is a traveling photo exhibition developed by Maine photographer, Maggie Foskett. With the genesis in 1979 when Ms Foskett took pictures of the cemetery at Geneva Training School, the exhibition focuses on a single individual whose tombstone caught […]

Kids Behind Bars 1890 - 1960, 1970s, Cemetery, Defining Defiance: Sex, Department of Corrections, Detention Centers, Dr Michael Rembis, Geneva History Centre, Geneva Illinois, Geneva Illinois Girls School, graveyard, Illinois State Training School for Girls, Juvenile justice, Maggie Foskett, reform school, Science and Delinquent Girls, Who Was Sadie Cooksie?, young offenders

Speak Up Against Prejudice

May 14, 2011 Cherie Bombell 3 comments

Tweet I got an email from a college friend, Michele, that read the post “Haunting Memory Finally Makes Sense”. She said, “You mention now, that you are older and wiser, you understand and are sorry, but would you have changed anything in the way you handled the situation? You couldn’t change your color, but would […]

Kids Behind Bars none

Merry Christmas Everyone!

December 26, 2010 Cherie Bombell No comments

Tweet Hope everyone is having a happy, loving Christmas with family and friends. I know for a lot of you, it hasn’t alway been that way. Many of you have told me how well your lives have turned out in spite of the abuse and the horror you experienced as children. I think the most […]

Kids Behind Bars none

Haunting Memory Finally Makes Sense

October 3, 2010 Cherie Bombell 1 comment

Tweet I recently read Blood Done Sign My Name by Timothy Tyson. It helped me to make sense of an incident that happened at Geneva in the 70s – one that has haunted me since. A man that worked on Wallace Cottage sometimes made bad decisions. I’m going to call him Mr Jay. He played […]

Kids Behind Bars 1970s, African Americans, Blood Done Sign My Name, Department of Corrections, Geneva Illinois, Geneva Illinois Girls School, Illinois State Training School for Girls, incarcerated, life lessons, racism, Timothy Tyson, young offenders

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