Minister for Equity, Social Justice and Empowerment Hon. Joachim Henry shared upcoming plans for the Boys Training Centre and the juvenile rehabilitation as a whole at a press briefing held on Monday 22nd May, 2023.
The minister says the training centre does not have sufficient space as the new Child Justice Act now requires the centre to house juveniles who are in conflict with the law.
Therefore the government is working to address this current problem and is faced with the decision of what is the best possible solution for juvenile rehabilitation as a whole.
“We have plans for the Boys Training Centre or for the whole juvenile environment, rehabilitation of our young people who find themselves in conflict with the law.” he shared.
“The new Child Justice Act allow for persons who are in conflict with the law to be at the BTC, we do not have the space currently to accommodate them.”
“We are working to address this problem and we need to decide as to what extent that we have a proper detention centre as part of our juvenile rehabilitation centre.” he added.
Henry says there are currently three units catering to juveniles and the goal is to bring all three units together.
“To what extent that we bring together both what is happening at Uptown Girls… because we have a unit, the Uptown Girls is governed separately to the transit home at cas en bas and you have the Boys Training Centre, so you have three different units catering for juveniles both boys and girls. We are looking to harmonize, rationalize and bring all of that together.” the MP said.
He says the cabinet of ministers has provided the former George Charles Secondary School to be used as a juvenile detention/rehabilitation centre.
“The cabinet of ministers provided us with the George Charles Secondary School as a place.. provides us with the opportunity to provide a lot more for our young people who are in conflict with the law… We will also be able to separate those who are in conflict with the law and those who are there for care and protection.” Henry said.
The minister says there will be one institution as opposed to having several organizations doing similar operations.
“So expect there to be one institution, hopefully, a statutory organization as against having three government entities doing similar things.” he said.
Photo: Media Stock
