Gov’t. Making Effort to Rehabilitate Juvenile Facilities – MacMillan

Minister of National Security, Senator Col. Trevor MacMillan, has said that the Government is making every effort to provide the necessary resources to rehabilitate the country’s juvenile facilities, particularly the one in Montpelier, St. James.
“The Montpelier juvenile facility is under construction and others are in our plans,” he said, noting that some provision for the works should be made in the upcoming budget.
The Minister was speaking to reporters following a tour of the Horizon Adult Remand Centre in Kingston yesterday (Feb. 18), to get a firsthand look at the conditions under which the juveniles are being housed. He also visited the Fort Augusta Correctional Centre in St. Catherine.
Minister MacMillan noted that while the situation was not ideal, juvenile offenders were not being kept in the same areas as the adult inmates. “The need to keep juveniles separate is understood, but because there is the need for resources, we have to do what we are doing now,” he pointed out.
He said that “over the last 25 years, the decision was made to build separate institutions for adults and juveniles but that has not been done, so we have to use what we have. So when the court gives an order saying that they have to be sent to Horizon or Fort Augusta, we have no other course but to do that,” he stated, noting that plans to build a new, state-of-the-art prison, would relieve some of the problems.
Minister MacMillan, in the meantime, commended the staff of Horizon and Fort Augusta for the excellent work they have been doing despite the challenging conditions.
“They do not have as much resources as they would like (but) if we could get more assistance from our partners, we could sincerely make a difference,” he argued.
The Minister’s tour of the facilities follows last week’s disturbance at Fort Augusta, in which the female juveniles at the facility reportedly assaulted warders, who tried to quell a protest.
During his visit to Horizon, the 13 female juvenile offenders at the facility were participating in a science class while at Fort Augusta, the 40 female juveniles there were in an English class.
Additionally, it was pointed out that the girls at Fort Augusta were exposed to skills training, including hairdressing and sewing. Education and training are major features of the government’s rehabilitation programme.
Of the 40 juveniles at Fort Augusta 12 are on remand, 26 are on correctional orders, and two have been convicted. One was given five years for manslaughter, while the other received nine months for drug related offence. The female juveniles are charged with offences including assault, larceny and wounding. Some have also been deemed uncontrollable.
There are 27 male juveniles at Horizon facing charges ranging from murder, and larceny to housebreaking.