Gov’t seeks to establish juvenile holding ‘home’ in Linden

Jul 21, 2015 News

The A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) government is seeking to establish a juvenile holding facility in Guyana’s second largest town, Linden.
Speaking at a United Nations Population Fund forum yesterday, Minister of Social Protection, Volda Lawrence, said that a juvenile holding ‘home’ was of immense importance to the juvenile justice system and the Linden community.
At present, juveniles who are caught on the wrong side of the law in Region Ten find themselves being kept at police stations. The same situation applies to children being taken in by welfare since they are often kept in the hospitals or other homes.
The Ministry wants this practice to be stopped and, as such, is seeking space in a government building in Linden to establish the facility. She promised to work along with the Ministry of Public Security to further this effort.
As she addressed the forum at Cara Lodge, Quamina Street, Georgetown, Minister Lawrence said that it was on her first visit as Minister to Linden, where she met with nongovernmental organisations, probation officers and social workers who pounded her ears with concerns over the existing system for juveniles.
“Many times it’s not only the physical abuse that they suffer from, but sometimes verbal and other abuse,” the Minister remarked as she spoke of the manner in which youth caught in the system are being handled.
Lawrence told yesterday’s gathering that as such she tasked the stakeholders to identify one of the government buildings for the facility in the mining town. This, she said, would be followed by her making representations to partner with the Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, to establish the detention centre.
“You have children that are taken from homes, from a welfare point, and you have no place to put them. Many times you are asking the hospitals or other persons to keep them, and in many instances they suffer another form of abuse because they are not where they are supposed to be,” the Minister said.
Lawrence explained that the building would be used as a holding home for juvenile delinquents as well as children taken into state care. “Our children shouldn’t be in any centre. They should be in a home.”
The establishment of this, Lawrence emphasised, was currently in the pipelines.
Last April, a police constable stationed at the Amelia’s Ward Outpost was placed under close arrest, following allegations that he had sex with a 15-year-old girl who had been detained for wandering.
The teen, and another juvenile, were detained about a month ago for wandering and a magistrate reportedly subsequently ordered that the girls be sent to the New Opportunity Corps.
They were, however, kept for several weeks in the lockups at the Amelia’s Ward Outpost. It was reportedly during this period that the constable allegedly had sex with one of the minors.
The matter was brought to the attention of the authorities by a female sergeant at the location.

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Gov’t seeks to establish juvenile holding ‘home’ in Linden

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