Child Rights - Jamaican Government Plan to Retrofit Police Stations to House Children: Unnecessary...

Renovating Police Lock-Ups: Unnecessary Expenditure

Recently, the Minster of Youth and Culture, Lisa Hanna formally announced plans to allocate $75 million to the retrofitting and renovation of 5 police lock-ups across the island to allow them to better accommodate children. This was one of the recommendations made by the Inter-Ministerial Working Group which had been assembled by the Minister last September, and is part of a plan which will extend to all 14 parishes over time, at a cost that is not yet known.

Reports from The Gleaner published on June 5, 2013 publicly detail specific plans to upgrade three facilities: Moneague in St. Ann, Nain in St. Elizabeth and Bridgeport in St. Catherine. This group represents the majority of the initial five police stations to be renovated, and presumably will require a substantial portion of the funding allotted.

Jamaicans for Justice’s Child Rights Working Group (CRWG) and the network of NGOs with which it collaborates have serious concerns about the proposal. The CRWG questions whether the plan to expand police lock-ups for children is in the best interests of the children, is in line with known best practice or is the most efficient expenditure of $75 million dollars, at a time when it is more important than ever to get the most impactful results from the money available for the improvement of the lives of children in the custody of the State.

The 75 million dollar expenditure proposed by the Inter Ministerial working group for the retrofitting of police lockups could, we contend, be far better spent elsewhere. It could be used to renovate an existing facility as the first regional remand centre for girls, so that they could be housed in something other than a prison. It could, for example, build an adolescent psychiatric ward at UWI to care for those most challenged and at risk (a plan exists for this and it would only require $40 million), as well as employ more than half dozen Psychologists and psychiatrists to care for them. Or it could provide foster care for more than 1000 children at risk and support the provision of counseling support for those who need it. In this time of financial constraint, it is imperative that all Ministries and Agencies spend their funds wisely.

Another of the CRWG’s concerns about the proposal is that the data available to us does not support the expansion of holding capacity for children at police lock-ups. According to the Gleaner stories, Moneague Police Station is slated to receive an additional 15 cells to hold 3 persons each – a capacity of 45 persons, and the Bridgeport facility will more than double its current holding capacity of 12.

The CRWG reviewed the 2012 weekly figures for children held at the Moneague, Nain and Bridgeport police stations, as given by the JCF Detention and Courts Division in documents they send to the CDA every Friday. Of the 3 stations, Moneague typically reported the highest number of children; the highest figure for the year was for one week in April 2012, when 14 children were reported for that station, far fewer than the 45 new spaces reportedly being created. . However, for most weeks during 2012, fewer than 10 children were reportedly held at that station. The highest number of children reported at the Nain station in 2012 was 8 and there were many weeks in which no children were reportedly being held at that station. The highest number of children reported at the Brigdeport lock up was 8, but numbers of 0, 1 and 2 were far more typical. These reports are based on the figures at the police stations on a Friday, and we call on the Ministers to provide the public with the data of children in custody throughout the week, if that data shows a significantly different picture.

These three facilities seem capable of handling the numbers of children currently being taken into custody, and the CRWG maintains that an analysis of the offences for which children are being housed at police stations indicates that many of these children ought not to be kept there at all. Renovations designed towards increasing capacity appear to be an unnecessary expenditure of resources and would seem to speak to an entrenched culture of punitive rather than rehabilitative approaches in the childcare system.

We are calling on the Minister of Youth and Culture and the Minister of National Security to make public the data on which the decision for this expenditure was made, and which would justify the spending of $75 million on lock-ups for children at 5 police stations. Answers to these questions would help to clarify their thinking: What data is this proposal based on? How many children are rightly being kept in police lockups and remand facilities? What is the operational budget for operating these stations with children?

The way to begin solving the issue of children on remand and in police lock-ups is not to equip them to accept even more of them, but rather to rehabilitate the children currently on remand while simultaneously ensuring that children who are taken into custody are physically removed within 24 hours. These two issues are among the most urgent, and should occupy a central position in the initial steps for the state’s planned reforms.

We do encourage the Ministry to ensure that children who are taken into a police station are kept separate from adult detainees and are housed in humane conditions. We believe, however, that this can be achieved with far less expenditure and that the available resources should be put towards the provision of other programmes and spaces which ensure that the fewest number of children spend the least amount of time in a police lock up and that all children in need get the services and support to which they are entitled.

Supplementary DataThe weekly numbers that follow strongly suggest that an expansion of these facilities to accommodate more children is at this point, an unnecessary measure. Though no specific details have been released to the CRWG and its affiliates regarding the slated expansion of the Nain facility, it seems clear that the Moneague and Bridgeport facilities should be functional under their current capacity.

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50 Moneague: Average Number of Children Held

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Decem

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Planned

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Bridgeport: Average Number of Children Held

Even when one extracts the single highest weekly intake for each of the stations, their totals are significantly lower than their intended maximum capacity.

Moneague Bridgeport0

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Moneague & Bridgeport: Peak Actual Intake vs. Planned Maximum Capacity

Peak Intake Slated Upgraded Capacity

* Note: Graphical representation of the Nain facility has been excluded due to lack of comparative quantitative data on State plans for upgrades.

Children in Police Lock-Ups:Figures extracted from Weekly CDA Reports on Children in Police Custody for the Moneague, Nain and Bridgeport Facilities.

◄ Dec 2011 January 2012 Feb 2012 ►

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat1 2 3 4 5 6

Moneague: 2Nain: 5Bridgeport: 3

7

8 9 10 11 12 13Moneague: 7Nain: 1Bridgeport: 6

14


21


28

29 30 31

Monthly Averages: Moneague: 3.75 children per weekNain: 3 children per weekBridgeport: 2.5 children per week

http://www.wincalendar.com/February-Calendar/February-2012-Calendar.html

http://www.wincalendar.com/December-Calendar/December-2011-Calendar.html

Weekly Report to the CDA: Children in Custody at Moneague, Nain and Bridgeport Police Stations

◄ Jan 2012 February 2012 Mar 2012 ►

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat1 2 3


4


11


18


25

26 27 28 29

Monthly Averages: Moneague: 4.5 children per weekNain: 4.25 children per weekBridgeport: 2.75 children per week

http://www.wincalendar.com/March-Calendar/March-2012-Calendar.html

http://www.wincalendar.com/January-Calendar/January-2012-Calendar.html


◄ Feb 2012 March 2012 Apr 2012 ►

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat1 2


3


10


17


24

25 26 27 28 29Moneague: 6Nain: 2Bridgeport: 1

30 31


http://www.wincalendar.com/April-Calendar/April-2012-Calendar.html

http://www.wincalendar.com/February-Calendar/February-2012-Calendar.html


◄ Mar 2012 April 2012 May 2012 ►



7


14


21


28

29 30

Monthly Averages: Moneague: 8.25 children per weekNain: 1.5 children per weekBridgeport: 2 children per week

http://www.wincalendar.com/May-Calendar/May-2012-Calendar.html

http://www.wincalendar.com/March-Calendar/March-2012-Calendar.html


◄ Apr 2012 May 2012 Jun 2012 ►

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat1 2 3 4


5


12


19


26

27 28 29 30 31


http://www.wincalendar.com/June-Calendar/June-2012-Calendar.html

http://www.wincalendar.com/April-Calendar/April-2012-Calendar.html


◄ May 2012 June 2012 Jul 2012 ►

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat1Moneague: 7Nain: 0Bridgeport: 3

2


9


16


23


30


http://www.wincalendar.com/July-Calendar/July-2012-Calendar.html

http://www.wincalendar.com/May-Calendar/May-2012-Calendar.html


◄ Jun 2012 July 2012 Aug 2012 ►



7


14


21


28

29 30 31


http://www.wincalendar.com/August-Calendar/August-2012-Calendar.html

http://www.wincalendar.com/June-Calendar/June-2012-Calendar.html


◄ Jul 2012 August 2012 Sep 2012 ►

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat1 2 3

Moneague: 7Nain: 1Bridgeport:0

4


11


18

19 20 21 22 23 24[no data provided]

25


Monthly Averages:

Moneague: 4.2 children per weekNain: 0.8 children per weekBridgeport: 0.25 children per week

Based on incomplete data.

http://www.wincalendar.com/September-Calendar/September-2012-Calendar.html

http://www.wincalendar.com/July-Calendar/July-2012-Calendar.html


◄ Aug 2012 September 2012 Oct 2012 ►

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat1


8


15


22


29

30

Monthly Averages: Moneague: 2.75 children per weekNain: 0 children per weekBridgeport: 0 children per week

http://www.wincalendar.com/October-Calendar/October-2012-Calendar.html

http://www.wincalendar.com/August-Calendar/August-2012-Calendar.html


◄ Sep 2012 October 2012 Nov 2012 ►

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat1 2 3 4 5

[no data provided[

6


13


20


27

28 29 30 31

Monthly Averages:

Moneague: 1.5 children per weekNain: 1.25 children per weekBridgeport: 0.75 children per week

Based on incomplete data.

http://www.wincalendar.com/November-Calendar/November-2012-Calendar.html

http://www.wincalendar.com/September-Calendar/September-2012-Calendar.html


◄ Oct 2012 November 2012 Dec 2012 ►

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat1 2

Moneague: 2Nain: 0Bridgeport:1

3

4 5 6 7 8 9Moneague:4Nain: 0Bridgeport:1

10


17


24



http://www.wincalendar.com/December-Calendar/December-2012-Calendar.html

http://www.wincalendar.com/October-Calendar/October-2012-Calendar.html


◄ Nov 2012 December 2012 Jan 2013 ►

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat1


8


15


22


29

30 31


http://www.wincalendar.com/January-Calendar/January-2013-Calendar.html

http://www.wincalendar.com/November-Calendar/November-2012-Calendar.html

Child Rights - Jamaican Government Plan to Retrofit Police Stations to House Children: Unnecessary...

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