Adkins Honored By Anti-Gang Violence Group

The mother of 14-year-old Christopher Jones, who was murdered by teen gang members a block from his Crofton home in 2009, accepted an award Wednesday, Oct. 26, for a state prison that “can make a difference in people’s lives.”

, a long-time Crofton resident, was asked by the lifers’ group, the Extra Legalese Group, Inc., to represent them as a memorial to her son.

"It was a bittersweet moment for me," she said. "Christopher’s birthday was the next day. He would have been 17 and a senior in high school." Two teenagers charged with his death -- one of them 17 -- have been released.

Adkins and the boy's father, Prince George's County Deputy Sheriff David Jones, had met with the ELG to help plan for a peace initiative that would slow gang violence behind bars and on the streets. "If we, the parents, can't find ways to stop the violence outside prison walls, we must go inside to get answers,” she said.

“We are in trouble. These kids are our future.”

The publisher and executive editor of the Daily Record presented the awards to 24 “innovators of the year" at the American Visionary Arts Museum in Baltimore. The ELG, a nonprofit prisoner think tank, won for "creating a new program that has helped their communities with imagination and vision,” demonstrating “the ability to see a need and fill it, and the courage to make change happen."

At a December symposium in the Jessup Correctional Institution, a dozen gang leaders rose to pledge efforts to stop requiring initiation rites of random violence, saying they were touched by the death of the teenager. The ELG men are working with inmates about to be released hoping to influence gangs outside.

JCI Warden John S. Wolfe, who was there, told the men earlier, “We have to reach across walls to address these problems. You men have been there. They’re apt to listen to you.”

The men have also sought the support of legislators, educators and Gov. Martin O’Malley to take the issue to the schools and the streets. They want to see street gangs converted into community resources, perhaps to go to schools to help deal with bullying or to provide support for community and church meetings.

The award ceremonies were attended by a representative of the governor, Deputy Staff Director Catherine Motz, by the volunteer activities coordinator of the prison, Sgt. Sonji Lynn, and by a score of supporters of the ELG, Inc., many of them members of a Community Support Coalition. They included  from Crofton former Sen. Janet Greenip, chair of the , , member of the CRCC board, and his wife, Karen and Nashville recording artist , a Crofton resident.

Annapolis CSC supporters attending included Joanna Conti, businesswoman and candidate for county executive, and Frank Dunbaugh, director, Maryland Justice Policy Institute and his wife, Belinda.

Val Hymes is a freelance writer living in Annapolis.