Jailed boys stripped in cells - Abused and called gay by warders, report says

A culture of victimisation has been reportedly cultivated at the Rio Cobre Juvenile Correctional Centre, with officers charged with the supervision of minors subjecting them to human-rights abuse for trifling misdemeanours.

The post-mortem from a special investigation conducted by the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) revealed that wards told of being stripped down to their underwear when they were being locked away for non-violent offences such as “talking back” or being absent from the dormitory at lockdown time.

The superintendent of Rio Cobre told INDECOM that clothing was removed to prevent suicide, which the watchdog conceded could be a legitimate action. However, that action was ruled as unwarranted in cases where youth did not exhibit suicidal tendencies.

INDECOM said that the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) Staff Handbook had clear guidelines on how suicidal inmates should be treated.

The young men who reportedly “talk back” or commit other punishable offences are isolated in a cell called ‘jail block’, which is also referred to as ‘drawers order’. This facility, according to INDECOM, has a single sponge mattress without bedsheets to cover it.

“Such a practice is further exacerbated by the absence of sheets on the jail block, which exposes wards to the elements without the ability to keep themselves warm,” INDECOM observed.

One ward divulged to INDECOM that he felt uncomfortable having to walk about just in his underwear among other adolescent boys. He said he had complained but was struck instead, or, as he put it, he was ‘buffed’ (struck). He reported that “more than six [wards] inna one cell squeeze up”. It was stated that in one instance, a ward was placed naked in the jail block, but such a complaint could not be corroborated.

INAPPROPRIATE DETENTION

The oversight body reported that it inspected the jail block at Rio Cobre and found that it was secured by a metal door and locked with a key even though the movements of the wards were already restricted. “The nature of such detention for children, already confined in a secure unit, for reportedly minor misdemeanours, is regarded as potentially inappropriate as well as hazardous,” declared INDECOM.

The commission was informed that in June 2020, a ward was placed in the jail block where he had a seizure, but the keys could not be found. It was later discovered that a member of staff had left the premises with the keys to have a duplicate made.

Additional complaints from some wards were that they had been disciplined or punished for activities that they were unaware attracted sanctions. According to INDECOM, these actions include false accusation of masturbation, climbing trees, refusal to rake the premises, and going downstairs without a shirt.

INDECOM has cautioned that such complaints, if true, did not merit any form of punishment or sanction to children.

It was further reported that while on the jail block, some of the wards were denied the use of a bathroom. One ward told INDECOM that he was denied use of the toilet until he experienced severe stomach cramps.

Another disturbing issue that wards reported to INDECOM was allegations that some correctional officers fabricated homophobic stories and labelled heterosexual boys as being gay, making them vulnerable to “unwarranted discrimination” and psychological distress.

The oversight body stated that while many of the claims by wards could not be fully substantiated or corroborated “and some of the survey interview findings were somewhat contradictory”. However, it noted that its site visit and accounts from the wards “did lend to their reports having substance”.

The oversight body reported that 66 per cent of the wards believed the system for punishing them was fair, yet 74 per cent of them indicated that they were punished at the facility for no given reason.

There are 41 wards at the Rio Cobre between the ages of 13 and 18 and 79 personnel from the DCS.

edmond.campbell@gleanerjm.com