“Last night, I was sitting on my bed and it all of a sudden hit me: How am I going to be remembered?”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime-and-punishment-juvenile-offenders-study-russian-literature/2013/05/12/59b4b14c-b8e3-11e2-b94c-b684dda07add_print.html

Crime and punishment: Juvenile offenders study Russian literature

By Susan Svrluga, Published: May 12

When another inmate was hassling Justice Green recently, Green didn’t hit him. Instead, he tossed him the 19th-century Russian literature story he was reading at the time and said: Come back to me in a week after you’ve read this.

Something strange is happening at Beaumont Juvenile Correctional Center. Residents are so eager to get into a Russian literature class led by the University of Virginiathat prison officials use it as a reward. The youths are clamoring to read weighty books such as “War and Peace” even after the class is over. And someone like Green, an 18-year-old from Northern Virginia who said he’s there “for grand theft autos,” knew he could walk away from a fight certain he had won.
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A couple of inmates left the class this spring. But all those who have remained talked about the questions staying with them. Some said they learned to have hope, or to redefine success, or to think more carefully.

“Last night, I was sitting on my bed and it all of a sudden hit me: How am I going to be remembered?” Green said. “I sat there for an hour, just looking at my leg, thinking about how I would answer that.”