"Nobody's Children"

Jamaican Children in Police Detention and Government Institutions

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I. SUMMARY

II. RECOMMENDATIONS

III. BACKGROUND
A Context of Rising Juvenile Crime
Political Violence and the Emergence of Youth Gangs
Relations Between the Urban Poor and Jamaica's Constabulary
Agencies With Responsibility for Children
Relevant Legal Standards
International Legal Standards
Domestic Legal Standards

IV. POLICE LOCKUPS
"Adult" Lockups
Spanish Town
Halfway Tree
Gun Court
Ewarton Police Station and Juvenile Lockup
Matilda's Corner Police Station and Juvenile Lockup
Evidence About Other Police Lockups
Intentional Police Abuse
Physical and Sexual Abuse
Neglect, Rough Treatment, Mental Abuse
Inadequate Responses to Police Abuse

V. CHILDREN IN OTHER

STATE-APPROVED INSTITUTIONS
Children's Services Institutions
Musgrave Children's Home
Glenhope Place of Safety
Glenhope Nursery
Homestead Place of Safety
Correctional Institutions
St. Andrew Remand Center

VI. THE SYSTEM AND HOW IT BREAKS DOWN
Structural Shortcomings
System Failures

VII. CONCLUSION

VIII. APPENDICES
APPENDIX A. U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child
APPENDIX B. U.N. Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of Their Liberty
APPENDIX C. U.N. Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of
APPENDIX D. United Nations Guidelines for the Prevention of
APPENDIX E. Excerpts from The Jamaican Juveniles Act

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This report is based on research conducted in Jamaica from late August to early September 1998 by Rosa Ehrenreich, Clovene Hanchard, Glenn McGrory, and Robert Sloane. (Rosa Ehrenreich is the Acting Director of the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School and the faculty instructor of the Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic. Glenn McGrory and Robert Sloane are members of the Yale Law School Class of 2000, and Clovene Hanchard is a member of the Yale Medical School Class of 1999). The report was written by Rosa Ehrenreich, Clovene Hanchard, Glenn McGrory, and Robert Sloane, and edited by Lois Whitman, the director of the Children's Rights Division, and Michael McClintock, Deputy Program Director. Sarah DeCosse of the Human Rights Watch Americas Division and Joanne Mariner of the General Counsel's Office provided additional helpful comments on the manuscript.

We wish to thank the Government of Jamaica for providing us with helpful background information and access to government facilities where children are detained. In particular, we are grateful to Winston Bowen, the Director of Children's Services, to Claudette Hemmings, the Deputy Director of Children's Services, and to Ambassador Marjorie Taylor, Minister of State and Special Envoy on Children, all of whom were extremely generous with their time and assistance. We also wish to thank Colonel John Prescott, Director of the Jamaican Department of Correctional Services, June Jarrett, Director of Juvenile Institutions, and Francis Forbes, Commissioner of the Jamaica Constabulary Force. We are also grateful to the numerous members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force who provided access to police lockups and who patiently answered our questions.

In Kingston, many people provided us with helpful background information. In particular, we wish to thank Lloyd Barnett, Dennis Daly, Nancy Anderson, Hilaire Sobers, Leo Aquiano, Carol Samuels, Afshan Khan, Judge Soares of the Kingston Family Court, Father Richard Albert, Reverend Norbert Stephens, Claudette Parris, Sipzroy Bryan, and Neville Webb.

Finally, we wish to thank the many Jamaican children who told us their stories. In this report, we have changed their names to protect their privacy.