Remandees at Metcalfe Street to Benefit from Health and Rehabilitation Services

The Government has provided a cash injection of $30.6 million for the delivery of medical and mental health screening, assessment and treatment of boys being housed at the Metcalfe Street Secure Juvenile Centre.

The allocation, set out in the 2012/13 Estimates of Expenditure, currently before the House of Representatives, is being provided under the Support for Metcalfe project, which is being funded by the Government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

A maximum of 208 boys at the facility will also be provided with counselling and other therapeutic interventions; education and skills training; limited farming activities; life skills programmes; and spiritual engagement this fiscal year.

Also for the period, it is anticipated that the remandees will be provided with behaviour modification programmes to include drug treatment and prevention, anger management and sex offender treatment, as well as sports and recreational activities.

The project, which got underway January 2012, aims to improve the capacity of the Department of Correctional Services to provide a safe and caring environment at the Metcalfe Street facility that is conducive to the smooth reintegration of child remandees into society and promotes the rights of the child.

The programme, which is being implemented by the Ministry of National Security, was originally scheduled to end in September 2012, but has been extended.

By Athaliah Reynolds-Baker, JIS Reporter