The CGLPL, who is still conducting his investigations, will send a report on this theme to
the Government in 2016.
5. In juvenile detention centres, well-identified difficulties
persist, but the Government appears to be willing to take
care of them in a suitable manner
Ever since its creation, the CGLPL has visited at least once, and mostly twice, the forty-nine
juvenile detention centres (CEF) of the territory. The main risks that these institutions face are well
known:
-
the fragility of the management teams;
-
the insufficient qualification and instability of the staff;
-
the resulting lack of quality of service projects and educational programmes;
-
idleness or an inconsistent succession of activities, which mitigates the weakness of the
educational projects;
-
the inconsistency between the declared discipline and what was observed in reality.
The tasks conducted in 2015 show proof of an actual improvement in certain
situations. In one case that had been subjected to harsh criticisms in the past,
the CGLPL observed a fixed, precise framework, which also had a certain
degree of flexibility. The minors were taken care of intelligently, and benefit
from very timely moments of inactivity. In another place, a solid educational
project was set up. In yet another place, a recently updated team was being
built with a focus on consistency, pertinence and trust, with a supervisory
team that appeared to be solid and which promoted the professional
commitment of each person. It offered the youth several personalised
projects in an inclusive and helpful environment that they could lean on to
progress.
On the other hand, certain other centres showed that progress is still necessary. Thus, in
one CEF, an insufficiently qualified team had difficulties in implementing an educational project
and resorted to using complicated punishments and reward methods in a very security-focused
treatment. In another CEF, the difficulties observed in 2009 became worse. Poorly maintained
rooms, deplorable hygiene, extreme confusion in the management of rewards and punishments, all
resulting from the team’s inability to properly take care of minors. Most of the educators are
contract agents, recruited for periods of four months and not trained properly. Since 2009, the
institution has experienced three shut-downs, without these periods having improved the operation
of the institution.
In another case, an institution was asked, in 2013, to set up an identifiable educational
project controlled by the competent territorial services, to appoint a teacher and to set up an
educational help desk. After shutting down for more than six month, the CEF reopened without
any of its difficulties being solved. The team, essentially being composed of people with insufficient
qualifications and an inexperienced supervisory staff in restricted boarding school structures,
experienced severe problems in cohesion. The contract teacher resigned after one month in the
structure, and no replacement was found.
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