Juvenile penal facility for Montpelier
THE government, faced with an increase in convictions of juveniles for serious crimes, is planning to transform the former Haitian refugee camp at Montpelier in St James into a penal facility to house young male convicts.
Speaking yesterday at the launch of Correctional Services Week, state minister in the Ministry of National Security, Donald Rhodd, said emphasis was being placed on rehabilitating juvenile delinquents.
“These infrastructural developments are necessary to modernise the existing correctional service as well as reposition the focus on rehabilitation of the inmates,” Rhodd said.
There are at present 350 juveniles in the custody of the state. Of that number, 220 were convicted for illegal possession of a firearm, wounding and breaches of the Dangerous Drugs Act. The Correctional Services Department said juveniles between the ages of 14 and 17 were the main offenders.
Of the number in custody, two have been convicted of murder and four for rape and other sexual offences, while three have been convicted of manslaughter.
There are three juvenile correctional centres in the island, located at Hill Top and Alexander in St Ann and Rio Cobre, St Catherine. The Hill Top Juvenile Correctional Centre facility houses 111 inmates, while 128 are held at the Rio Cobre facility.
A total of 49 girls are also held at the Armadale facility at Alexandria in St Ann, while 33 boys have been ordered remanded at the New Horizon Adult Remand Centre in Kingston by the courts. According to head of the Correctional Department, Major Richard Reese, the boys are held in a separate area in the adult remand centre.
The Montpelier site was built by the Cuban Government in the 1970s and was intended to be used as a training camp. It was once occupied by the Jamaica Defence Force and after the Haitian refugees were sent home, the Correctional Services Department has been using the building to train warders.
The prison service, Reese said, would also be training warders in weapons handling and has introduced motorcycle patrols to assist in prison security.