DCS defends stewardship amid fresh claims of abuse at juvenile facility
Published:Friday | May 27, 2022 | 1:28 AM
WESTERN BUREAU:
On the heels of a Gleaner report that a 14-year-old ward of the St Catherine-based Rio Cobre Juvenile Correctional Centre has been suffering abuse at the hands of staff members, the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) has defended the stewardship of the facilities it oversees.
The DCS issued a statement Thursday, hours after the publication of an article in which a Westmoreland woman accused employees of the Rio Cobre centre of beating and starving her son without provocation.
“The relevant authorities have been notified of a circumstance involving a ward and [are] investigating to determine whether there is any truth to the allegations,” the release stated.
The ward’s mother, JB (name changed to protect minor’s identity), said that her son had informed her of multiple alleged instances of being beaten by a staff member since he was placed there for uncontrollable behaviour in 2021.
“I got a phone call and my son said to me, ‘Mommy, if you don’t free me, mi a go kill myself’ because the [staff member] threatened him. Mi can’t manage that one,” JB, who has two sons at the facility, told The Gleaner.
“Him say, ‘Mommy, mi a get abused, mi hungry, dem a treat me bad.’ I have never ill-treated my sons. I never beat them. I just carried them to CDA (Child Development Agency, (the former name for the Child Protection and Family Services Agency) to control them, but they are being abused. Mi can’t work with that. I need them to come home right now,” said the worried mother.
Yesterday, the DCS insisted that all wards of the juvenile correctional facilities are treated with respect and given “high-quality care”.
“Wards within the juvenile correctional centres are housed in safe and secure environments with competent staff, adequate provision of food, personal care and hygiene products. They each have access to healthcare facilities and medical personnel, including psychologists, who conduct weekly sessions, and psychiatrists,” the release said, adding that they also receive psychosocial support from case managers and chaplains.
The accusations come more than a year after a Gleaner probe in February 2021 unearthed allegations of human-rights abuses by correctional officers at the centre, which was built during the 1980s.
The Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) had also reported that the wards had said that they were being stripped down to their underwear and locked away for non-violent offences such as “talking back” or being absent from the dormitory at lockdown time.
On Thursday, Yanique Taylor-Wellington, director of complaints for INDECOM’s South Eastern Region, confirmed that her office had been in contact with the ward’s mother in relation to the allegations and that follow-up visits with the minor had been scheduled.
Jamaicans for Justice Executive Director Mickel Jackson also called for the Government to adequately address the conditions under which juvenile wards are reportedly kept in custody.
Some 200 wards are being housed at four juvenile facilities across the island.