my experience in a juvenile detention centre from the ages 5-13

it all started back when i was 5 years old living in birmingham. me and my parents were going to a car boot sale because we didn't really have any furniture except for the bed that we all slept in together and the drawer of mysterious objects beside it (don't ask, i didn't). once we arrived at the car boot sale, i was given the instruction of feigning innocence to attain as many objects for as low of a price as possible.

me, being 5 years old and a victim of the circumstance, assumed that stealing was part of the status quo and decided to just go around and nick every possible thing i could find. i even nicked someone's car keys (that will come back to bite me l8r). once i was done with my retrieval journey, i returned to my parents to showcase my elegant display of possessions that i definitely didn't steal. i was ready to be met with upmost praise, and i was! until they learned that i hadn't paid a single dime (in which they also realised they forgot to even give me any money so, tbf, wtf was i supposed to do?? not steal??). it was during the moments that they were scolding me for something that i didn't know better about that there was a rush of guards (ig? idk they weren't police officers) coming to find the culprits. 

being that i was a small child and had little motor skills, i left quite a cumbersome trail of small objects behind me leading up to the little area off to the side where my parents were shouting at me. once they had arrived and confronted my parents - instead of my parents taking the blame - i was immediately blamed for my "crimes" and was escorted out of the car boot sale WITHOUT MY PARENTS.

the police came shortly after, ig they claimed that i wasn't their child or smth idk i don't remember this part that well. i was taken to the police station and was repeatedly questioned about my parents and my actions, etc etc. i don't think they got a hold of my parents so i was inevitably taken to a foster home, which was awful. shortly after, the house conveniently combusted into flames and me, still 5 years old, had been charged with arson. apparently, children aren't eligible for arrest of any kind until they're about 10 in the UK, but tell that to the police of birmingham because it's what happened to me and istg i wouldn't fcking lie about this sht and idek how anyone would even come up with this LOL

i was put in a juvenile detention centre, where the years i lived there remained to be rather dull and boring. i was put into a cell with a teenager at the time (which, as a teenager myself, i find pretty fcking odd LOL) and everyone would call him jerky joe, no joke 😭. idk what he did to earn that nickname but it's probably pretty easy to gather ☠️

he was pretty nice to me and he was my only friend up until i was released when i was 13, and put into another foster home. my foster parents were rather nice and i still live with them to this day. they accepted my identity and sexuality and let me live as whoever i wanted to be, but i can't help but wonder, would my life have ended up as welcoming as it did if none of this had ever happened? would i have been a better person without all this? idk, lmk :)