Ronald Bernier

The Class of 1969 Ronald Bernier

Generations of families drove past those old, creepy stone cottages in the Sockanosset neighborhood of Cranston Rhode Island. And generations of terrified children were put on strict notice -- misbehave, and you might find yourself locked up in that terrible "Bad Boys School."The Class of 1969 is the story of one of those children who was not only threatened like so many other kids his age, but due to chronic behavioral problems brought on by a childhood full of loss and poverty, found himself incarcerated at Sockanosset - formally known as the Rhode Island Training School. There, he would be "rehabilitated" by the state, endure violence, face racial unrest, and battle profound loneliness while attempting to come to terms with who he was and what he had become. And it's also the story of a troubled teen spiraling into the dark depths of crime and alcohol dependency, and the inspirational journey of spiritual awakening that saved his life. And at the center of it all were those iconic stone cottages, and hundreds of boys just like him locked-up and lost in a terrifying, brutal and cold-hearted system.