A/HRC/16/52/Add.5
Hohola Juvenile Centre, Port Moresby
Visited 24 May 2010
General information
Brothers Patrick Bokorun and Lazarus Bung of the Sacred Heart Brotherhood received the
Special Rapporteur. There were five staff members and eight male juveniles in the juvenile
remand centre. The facility was the only one of its kind in the entire country and could hold
up to 16 juveniles.
The Sacred Heart Brothers also run the SHB Socay Training Institute on the other side of
the street, an elementary and vocational training centre for street children, ex-criminals and
detainees. The basic philosophy of the Institute is to “rebuild broken lives” and the place
gives a very good impression.
The Brothers assessed that there was a lot of police violence and that they often had to treat
the new arrivals following heavy beatings by the police. Some of the juveniles arrived at
the center with cigarette burns and marks from beatings with fan belts, cables, telephone
wires and cooper wires. If needed, the boys would be taken to the hospital for treatment.
Once a juvenile is arrested by the police, the court has to be informed and decides where to
hold the suspect. Depending on the crime and taking into account the possibility that the
suspect might abscond, the judge could place a juvenile at the center. If convicted, the boys
were transferred to a prison for juveniles near Lae. They could stay at the center as long as
their case was pending, with the longest being 18 months. They juveniles and the officers
ate their three meals together. It was a friendly place with a nice and well-kept garden. In
the house, there was one dormitory, with beds, which was not locked. It led to a kitchen
where they could prepare their own food. They could also go to the garden at any time.
They received counseling by the center’s staff, vocational training as well as outside
schooling. Sports and cultural activities were provided during the weekends. They also had
books, artwork and handcrafts made by them. Nobody complained about beatings on the
Hohola Juvenile Centre.
Individual cases
A male juvenile, aged 17, was arrested in March 2010 at his home. Two police officers
started beating him on his face with gun butts, in front of two other persons. He spent the
night in a cell and was beaten for no apparent reason. He was then taken to Bomana
Correctional Institution for a week. He considered himself very lucky to be at the center,
since Bomana was very dangerous. They were all friends at Hohola, there were no beatings
and they had nice Sundays. They cooked, cleaned, did sports and gardening. He wanted to
become a lawyer. He would not like anything to change there since ‘it is all good’, except
maybe for the food.
J.Y., aged 17, was arrested on 6 February 2010 at a sports centre, by three police officers
who did not use force as he immediately surrendered and admitted. He was first taken to
Gerehu Police Station and shortly thereafter to Boroko Police Station, where he was locked
up for one week and three days in a cell with 30 adults. He was not beaten but he saw
others being beaten by the police and coming in with swollen faces and other injuries. They
received three meals per day and enough water. The possibility to take a shower depended
on the good will of the police officer in charge. He complained about the overcrowding of
the cells at Boroko and the fact that the judiciary was very slow in handling their cases.
When the magistrate postponed his hearing, he was sent to Hohola Remand Centre, where
the conditions were much better. They can receive family visits at any time, the doors were
open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., and they could spend most of their time outside. They also did
some gardening and attended classes in the adjacent school. Food and water was in
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