Redirect from BaseController

Hey gang, I am trying to redirect from my BaseController with a function called by the child Controller but it doesn't seem to work. Here is what I have.

BaseController.php

PHP Code:

class BaseController extends Controller
{
    /**
    * @var \CodeIgniter\Session\Session|mixed|null
    */
    protected $session;

    public function initController(RequestInterface $request, ResponseInterface $response, LoggerInterface $logger)
    {
        // Do Not Edit This Line
        parent::initController($request, $response, $logger);
        $this->session = \Config\Services::session();
    }

    public function check_something()
    {
        // redirect if something in session doesn't check out
        if (empty($this->session->get('something'))) redirect()->to('/somewhere');
    }
} 


ChildController.php

PHP Code:

class ChildController extends BaseController
{
    public function index(){
        // check something first
        $this->check_something();

        // if we are not redirected...
        echo 'everything checked out!';
    }
} 


To answer the question: Yes, the session variable 'something' has not been created and empty($this->session->get('something')) returns true;

Any help greatly appreciated. Thank you!