A/HRC/16/52/Add.3
times with an electric wire. It was the only time she had been beaten, although she had been
placed in the punishment side cell on several occasions. The longest she had stayed there
was one week. Other punishments included banning visits. She had two U-shaped scars on
her right lower back produced by an electric wire. Her sister was also detained at Fort
Augusta, but in a separate dorm. Most girls were there for uncontrollable behaviour.
Regarding other detainees, she added that the girls sometimes fought and that the adult
women cursed her. She went to school everyday.
72.
M. C., aged16, stayed in dorm no. 1. She had been held at Stony Hill, Horizon, and
Armadale. She had been at Fort Augusta since August 2009. The week before the visit of
the Special Rapporteur she had had an argument with another girl and was moved to the
isolation dorm, where she was locked down for a week. She had not been beaten while at
Fort Augusta, but still felt that the treatment at Armadale had been better. She reported her
experience of the fire at Armadale in May 2009.
73.
N. S., aged 14, had been at Fort Augusta since July 2009. The week before the visit
of the Special Rapporteur, she had thrown her porridge away and had been slapped in the
back by a guard, and told to behave by the school teacher. She fought constantly with the
officers, who searched for marijuana. The officers used pepper spray and batons to control
the detainees. She wished the detainees were not treated like pigs and complained about the
beatings.
74.
S.D., aged 16, had been detained in Fort Augusta for three years and six months,
since she was 14, for refusing to obey her parents. Before that, she had stayed with
strangers in a “comforting home” in Kingston and in a place of safety for three months,
from which she ran away. Her father had taken her back to the place of safety. She was
involved in a riot there, for which the management called the police. She got into a fight
with the police and was beaten. She was then taken to the police station and a judge
sentenced her to prison. She was detained at Armadale, but was transferred to Fort Augusta
after she ran away. In April 2008, she was involved in a riot in Fort Augusta. In the course
of the riot she and other inmates were beaten by the officers. She got beaten on her
shoulders, fingers, abdomen and knees with batons and wooden boards. She knew the name
of the female officer who beat her. She experienced some swellings and was taken to see
the doctor, who gave her painkillers. Afterwards, she was taken to the punishment cell at
the back of the dormitory, which was infested with rats and insects and was full of faeces.
After the riot the punishment cells were packed with girls. The girls were permanently
locked down and could only go out to catch water during two months. She understood that
children had to be punished but thought that they were excessively punished at Fort
Augusta and that they had no rights. Additionally, she felt that the officers were treating the
girls as if they were adults without understanding the special needs of children. Her mother,
with whom she was going to live with in a month, would visit her. She could also attend
school and go to the computer lab. She added that the adult inmates did not want the
juveniles around and one of them had tried to set her on fire on one occasion. She had
splashed kerosene on her and then threw a burning tissue at her. The juveniles also fought
among each other. The food was of poor quality; it was not properly cooked and it made
her sick. At home, her now deceased father had regularly beaten her with a board, a water
hose or other tools. The only thing she had to remember him were the scars on her face
from the beatings.
75.
A detainee, aged between 25 and 28. She was taken to Fort Augusta in November
2009. At the time of the visit of the Special Rapporteur, she had been in the punishment cell
for some days as she had been seen with contraband material. Since she was
claustrophobic, she suffered from the lack of air and space, as she was only taken out for
meals.
35
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