Learn More: Off-Course Youth Don’t Need a Cell—They Need a Chance
When a young person makes a mistake—gets into a fight, skips school, breaks a law—many systems respond with swift, punitive action: probation, detention, or a trip to juvenile hall. But mounting research shows that even just one week in juvenile detention dramatically increases the chance of that youth reoffending.
A landmark study in Cook County, Illinois, tracked over 35,000 justice-involved youth and found that those who were incarcerated, even briefly, were 22–26% more likely to end up in adult jail or prison later in life, compared to peers who were released to community supervision. Why? Because jail doesn’t solve the problem—it compounds it. It removes kids from school, disconnects them from family, and surrounds them with others who are also in survival mode.
Phoenix Ranches offers a different path.
Here, youth are not punished— they’re guided. We provide structure, mentorship, trauma-informed care, and meaningful responsibility. They learn life skills, build trust, form connections, and rediscover their value—not in a system that locks them down, but in a community that lifts them up.
By replacing correction with compassion, and cells with support, Phoenix Ranches helps off-course youth truly change direction— not just for now, but for life.
Click here to take a walk down two very separate roads… One to a prison, the other to a Phoenix Ranch.
Learn More: The Origins That Shaped a Movement
Through his raw, unflinching memoirs, Phoenix Ranches Founder Michael Turner shares the traumatic experience of youth incarceration. The following are three chapters of his soon to be published book titled: Why Ranches?
These chapters detail the first days of his life in prison.
