Screams from Armadale

By Jaevion Nelson

YESTERDAY, MAY 22, was the fourth 'anniversary' of the dreadful Armadale fire in which seven girls died from fire-related injuries and most, if not all, of the 62 girls who were housed at the facility were left to tender to post-traumatic stress (on their own). According to then Prime Minister Bruce Golding in a statement to Parliament on March 2, 2010 - seven days after the People's National Party (PNP) called on him to take swift action to correct the grave injustice to these girls - "The awful tragedy that occurred at Armadale should not have been allowed to happen [and] we must ensure that no such tragedy ever again occurs."

Many Jamaicans, especially those of us working on issues related to the rights of children, readily agree with this statement. However, the continued trajectory of misguided approaches for decades as a way to address the dire needs of children, especially those who come in conflict with the law, is hardly a glimmer of hope. This is because 50 per cent of children in remand and correctional facilities are there for non-violent reasons (Office of the Children's Advocate), most of them are because they are "uncontrollable" and girls are still being locked up in the Fort Augusta and Horizon adult prisons.

POOR SOLUTIONS

In addition, the minister of youth has endorsed housing children alongside adults at the proposed South Camp Road facility, which would be in violation of Article 37(c) of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. I am curious as to whether there is a timeline to remove the girls from these facilities, especially in view of the fact that the Chinese no longer need Fort Augusta for the Logistics Hub. By the way, the South Camp proposal is unacceptable in that it is still a prison environment, which is hardly a rehabilitative environment. There is, seemingly, very little hope for children who need our care and protection.

In the beginning of May, I watched CVM TV's 'Live at 7' in which the mother of one of the girls who died as a result of the fire and Alexis Goffe from Jamaicans for Justice were guests on the programme. There was also a feature interview with my colleague Candine Anderson, a survivor of the Armadale incident, and the child rights advocate. I decided to use the title of the programme as the title for my article because the survivors and the families of those seven girls who died are still waiting for justice. Perhaps their screams were not loud enough; the death of seven girls was not disgraceful enough; the injuries were not painful enough, and the nightmares that routinely disturb the rest of survivors are bearable. This must be the case why they still have not been compensated and the pervasiveness of the problems faced by children in the care and protection and incarcerated by the state are still largely unaddressed. After all, one or two recent cases (not as severe as the Armadale tragedy) show the Jamaican justice system can be swift and effective in Jamaica (like we see on CSI Miami and Law & Order) despite the over 400,000 cases of backlog in the court system and high number of murders that go unsolved.

I want to remind Minister of National Security Peter Bunting of a joint press release issued as Opposition spokesperson on national security, along with the PNP Human Rights Commission, on or around February 23, 2010, calling for swift and decisive actions by the Government on the Armadale Report findings. According to them, this is because 'there were breaches of duty and administrative errors by the Department of Correctional Services, that public officials acted negligently and that a police officer acted unlawfully, resulting in the tragic circumstances at the Armadale Juvenile Correctional Centre in May 2009."

I would love to know where the Government is in ensuring the necessary actions in relation to the findings above. From what I hear from my colleagues who are working specifically on the matter, not much has been done. I strongly believe that Minister Bunting should apprise the nation on the status of recommendations from the report and commitments made by Bruce Golding in his statement on March 2, 2010.

We shouldn't allow our children to grow up hopeless, knowing they could be one of many who end up in destitute living conditions, thus halting and/or severely limiting their opportunities in life because of silly reasons such as being uncontrollable. Imagine your child, brother or sister might just end up in this situation because they ran away from home or missed a couple days of school? It's so very important that all our children feel they belong in our country and that they won't be treated as second-class citizens.

Let us all care for and protect our children, especially those who are most vulnerable.

Jaevion Nelson is a youth development, HIV and human rights advocate. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and jaevion@gmail.com.