Juveniles exposed... No entrance doors at one facility
Published:Wednesday | February 16, 2022 | 6:02 PM
Damion Mitchell/Integration Editor
The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) has admitted that juveniles continue to live in substandard physical conditions, 12 years after the Armadale enquiry exposed cracks in the system.
In a report to Parliament's Human Resource and Development Committee, the DCS said entrance doors to all the dorms at the Rio Cobre Juvenile Correctional Centre are in breach of the National Building Code.
At the Metcalfe Street Secure Juvenile Centre, there are no windows in the dorms resulting in poor ventilation.
READ: Armadale report cites negligence
Around 200 juveniles are detained in Jamaica's four juvenile facilities.
The DCS said none of the four centres was built for purpose and all the kitchens need to be retrofitted to meet industrial standards.
“The poor state of the buildings makes it difficult to effectively deliver rehabilitation programmes,” said a spokesperson in the report.
READ: Mental health alarm: Juveniles in crisis as system cracks
The Metcaffe Street facility is a retrofitted building, the Hiltop centre was an old army camp, the South Camp Juvenile Corrections Centre is a former adult prison for males and the Rio Cobre Juvenile Correctional Centre, built in the 1980s, was not designed to international standards, the DCS said.
Meanwhile, the DCS said the electrical and plumbing networks are in disrepair due largely to the passage of time and to tampering, mostly by the boys.
The correctional service wants additional dormitory spaces to effectively separate the younger children from the older ones for protection from abuse, disciplinary purposes, health reasons and for the orientation of new admissions.
“The girls live in dorm-like settings but sleep in cells of two or four persons per cell.
The boys often tamper with the roofs in bids to escape resulting in recurring expenses to effect repairs,” read a section of the DCS report.
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