Rio Cobre Juvenile Centre gets new block
Published:Friday | December 17, 2021 | 7:18 AMAsha Wilks/Gleaner Writer
THE DEPARTMENT of Correctional Services (DCS) officially opened the new block of the Rio Cobre Juvenile Correctional Centre in St Catherine on Wednesday.
Dormitories, classrooms, a staff room, a medical examination station, and bathroom facilities are part of the new block, which is expected to make both workers and the 52 juveniles at the centre more comfortable.
In addition to the block’s opening, a mural was unveiled after 10 inmates competed in the Youth For Development Network’s Heart2Art mural competition.
Three boys were victorious and received tokens for their efforts, artistic contributions, and legacy left on the walls of the correctional facility.
Senator Matthew Samuda, minister without portfolio in the Ministry of National Security, asserted that the newly constructed building and other improvements to staffing areas must be implemented across all other facilities in order to rank up the results that the DCS hopes to see in the future.
“We are going to have to over the next five, 10, 20 years, put the team and their working conditions at the core of what we do if we are going to get the results that we need,” he said.
With reference to the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) report in 2020, which found a culture of victimisation in which officers allegedly subjected wards to abusive behaviour for minor infractions, Samuda stated that the DCS has addressed all of the issues that arose, which included but was not limited to vandalism, design flaws, and a lack of maintenance investment.
As the Corrections (Amendment) Act is due to be debated in the Senate today, Samuda told The Gleaner that it was never a secret that the DCS has always had a problem with dealing with the smuggling of contraband into its facilities.
Illegal inflows of smartphones and other technological devices continue to compromise security of prisons.
However, Samuda said that the operationalising of the legislation should serve as a strong deterrent to the committing of breaches.
Samuda reported a significant removal of contraband in the last 12 months, with a reported 2,000-plus phones confiscated. Those seizures, he said, doubled the finds from the previous year.
AIDING AND ABETTING
On the other hand, Samuda has denied that the majority of the contraband discovered was the result of correctional officers aiding and abetting inmates.
“What I have found is that the vast majority of correctional officers are indeed good, upstanding citizens who take their role very seriously. But in all organisations, you have a few bad eggs,” he said.
Nonetheless, he asserted that the DCS has made significant efforts to hold those responsible accountable for breaches.
Superintendent Maulette White of the Rio Cobre Juvenile Correctional Centre told The Gleaner that the centre’s programmes were on track to deliver high rates of rehabilitation.
Rio Cobre offers skills training in woodwork, barbering, home economics, tailoring, and Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) classes, as well as three remedial classes.
White says she has personally witnessed how beneficial the various programmes have been on the boys.
She attributes the centre’s success to the requirement that every boy must attend school and be placed in at least two skill areas, resulting in the birth of many entrepreneurs and business-minded young men who have turned their backs on crime.
“Too often we see these young men on the streets [who] just need an opportunity. We are not saying that we are gonna get all of them or we gonna reach all, but as much as we can,” said White.
“We want to make sure that the resources are available [and] the rehabilitation programmes are up and running. It will take some time but we have a duty to ensure that we carry out what we signed up to do,” she added.