publications

IV. Illegal Conditions of Detention

Children continue to be detained with adults in poor conditions and denied medical care in police lockup. Conditions in Lae’s Town police station and Port Moresby’s Boroko station were similar to those we have seen elsewhere in the country, and, although each had enough cells to keep children separate, this was not being done when we visited.58

Johnny I.’s description of Lae’s Town police station, where he was detained in March 2006, was typical:

I was there for five days breathing the fumes from the toilet. During that time I was very sick. . . . In the cell there was tap water but no blanket or mosquito net. There were other people—some big men, some old men, some young men, some [ages] 10, 12.59

In prison and other juvenile institutions, children awaiting trial are mixed with those already convicted. Poor conditions are especially harsh in light of the fact that children are not exempt from the phenomenon that detainees may face months and even years awaiting trial.

Detention of Children with Adults

Detaining children with adults in police lockup places them at risk of rape, other forms of violence, and criminal socialization. Although Human Rights Watch did find a few instances in which children were separated from adults in both Lae and Port Moresby, that remains the exception, not the rule.

In August 2006, when Human Rights Watch visited Lae’s Town police station and Port Moresby’s Boroko police station, we found boys in the same cells as adult men in both; even the advance notice we gave of our visit had not motivated station officers to remedy this. (Boroko police station houses the Port Moresby juvenile reception centre, with two cells intended to remove children entirely from the adult lockup area, but these were not in use when we visited—see also below, section VI.) In Lae’s Town police station, children and adults appeared to be completely mixed in five unlocked cells that were open to a secure corridor and shower area.60 After we arrived, we were asked to wait while water was swept out of the area and detainees were ordered into the cells, which remained unlocked. In the cell designated for juveniles, we found 12 detainees, ranging from boys as young as 13 years old to adult men in their twenties.

In Boroko police station, we found one boy in a cell full of adult men who said he was 14 or 15 years old.61 We also found one 16-year-old boy alone in a separate cell and another 16-year-old boy in the locked corridor with women detainees. When we asked the guard in charge of the cells why the latter two boys were not with the others, he told us that the boy in the cell by himself was there because he was under arrest for “a very serious criminal case . . . . The others are for minor offenses.” The boy in the corridor was there because he was sick, the guard said, but also because he was very small. However, when asked whether children were usually separated from adults, he told us they were not. “We put everybody inside,” he explained. “This is what we normally do.”62

The testimony of children was consistent with the practice we saw in the stations. For example, Nathan B., age 16, said he was detained in Boroko police station with 17 others, “some adults and some juveniles, even some middle-aged men,” on August 13, 2006.63 Three boys in their mid-teens told us they were detained in the same cell as adults in Lae’s Town police stationin early 2006.64

The mixing of boys with adult men in detention places them at risk of sexual assault and other forms of violence by older detainees. This is shown by cases documented in our 2005 report, 65 and by cases such as that of Gari M., age 16, who described being detained for one month in Boroko police station with adults when he was 13 years old:

Some of the boys were bashed up, especially the little ones who were there for pickpocketing. They would get belted up and raped anally. There were two little boys who came into my cell—they were sexually abused.66

Because his arm was severely injured by police who beat him with an iron rod, he said, he was unable to intervene:

I was in pain—I couldn’t do anything. But I was watching. It was the bigger boys—I didn’t go against them because they would have bashed me up. They were maybe 24, maybe 30 years old. The little boys were 12 or 13. I knew other big boys there and they protected me.

Human Rights Watch also heard reports of boys raping other boys in Bomana prison,67 indicating a larger failure to protect children from sexual violence in detention.

It is often claimed that children are not separated from adults because of a lack of infrastructure. However, in only one of the six places that Human Rights Watch has investigated since 2004—Wewak—was there only one cell (even in Wewak other cells existed, but had broken toilets so the cells were out of use).68 In addition, in Morobe province at least three stations outside of the provincial capital, including Wau and Bulolo, have separate areas that could be used for children, the provincial police commander told us.69 Indeed, then-Police Commissioner Sam Inguba, in response to Human Rights Watch’s 2005 report, told journalists that police have “categorized cell blocks for juveniles, female adult offenders and hardcore criminals in major police stations around the country.”70 In areas that truly lack separate areas for children, diversion, rather than detention, may be the appropriate alternative (see also below, section VI).71

Nor can it be claimed that police do not know that children and adults must be separated. With the exception of the guard at Boroko police station, police station commanders and individual officers we spoke with consistently told us they knew the rule.72 According to the officer who was in charge of the juvenile reception center in Lae Town police station, “We have strict instructions about the processing of juveniles. We are not supposed to put juveniles into [adult] cells.”73 Where guards truly do not know the rule, the shift officer-in-charge, who is responsible for all juvenile matters, should inform them and ensure that separation occurs.74

Although confusion about the proper handling of youths close to age 18 might be expected because many boys do not know their exact ages, we found men who were and looked much older than 18 mixed with boys much younger, indicating that confusion about age is not the primary problem.

Failure to Provide Children with Medical Care

In 2004, we found that police provided most detainees with no medical care, even when they were seriously injured, and irrespective of whether illness or injury derived from abuse police had themselves inflicted.75 In some instances police intentionally withheld or delayed medical care as additional punishment. In other cases police delayed bringing children to court to let swelling go down to cover up what police had done to them. In 2006, we spoke with several boys who said they had not been provided with needed medical care in police lockup in Lae.76 As mentioned above, at Boroko police station we found one boy lying on a bench with women detainees, covered with a shirt, almost unable to speak. The women told us that he had been there for three days—they were concerned that he had malaria. The guard there said that there had not been transport to take the boy to the hospital.77 This was simply not true: several vehicles were available when we visited, including the juvenile policy monitoring unit’s truck, which is only supposed to be used for the unit’s work with children.

In some cases, boys said they first got basic medical care when transferred to prison. The Deputy Commissioner of Correctional Services told us that they now look for and record injuries that detainees arrive with from police custody, to avoid being blamed for them.78




58 The juvenile reception centers in these stations (discussed below) are not being used to actually house children. In Port Moresby we also visited three other stations: Town police station, which has no lockup and transfers detainees elsewhere; Nine-Mile police station, where we did not visit the lockup; and Waigani police station, which had no children detained at all at the time we visited. For information about conditions in police lockup elsewhere in the country, see Human Rights Watch, Making Their Own Rules,pp. 60-64.

59 Human Rights Watch interview, Lae, August 6, 2006. The interviewee said he was 18 years old but he looked much younger.

60 One cell in Lae was vacant: police told us that it was the women’s cell but had not been used at least since the beginning of 2006 because the toilet was broken. When we visited, women were detained in a small locked corridor directly in front of the men’s detention area, separated from the men by a locked door.

61 The boy’s physical appearance was consistent with his claimed age. When we raised this issue with staff of the juvenile reception center (Juvenile Policy Monitoring Unit), they intervened with the cell guard and had the boy moved to another cell.

62 Human Rights Watch interview with guard, Boroko police station, Port Moresby, August 10, 2006.

63 Human Rights Watch interview, Port Moresby, August 15, 2006.

64 Human Rights Watch interviews, Lae, August 8, 2006.

65 See Human Rights Watch, Making Their Own Rules, pp. 64-65.

66 Human Rights Watch interview, Lae, August 5, 2006.

67 Human Rights Watch interview with 16-year-old boy, Lae, August 5, 2006.

68 See Human Rights Watch, Making Their Own Rules,p. 64.

69 Human Rights Watch interview with Provincial Police Commander Noah, Lae, August 7, 2006. Commander Noah told us that he had seen facilities that could be used to separate children at three stations; he had not seen other stations and did not know whether they had sufficient facilities.

70 “Juvenile Abuse Refuted,” Post-Courier, September 14, 2005.

71 A new police booklet outlines for police policies on diverting children from formal criminal charges. Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary, “Police Juvenile Justice Policy and Protocols,” February 2006, pp. 33-40.

72 See, for example, Human Rights Watch interviews with Police Station Commander Leo Lamei, police prosecutor, and police officer, Town police station, Lae, August 8, 2006; and with the police station commander and police officers, Waigani police station, Port Moresby, August 2, 2006.

73 Human Rights Watch interview with head of juvenile reception center, Lae, August 4, 2006.

74 Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary, “Police Juvenile Justice Policy and Protocols,” pp. 10, 17.

75 See Human Rights Watch, Making Their Own Rules,pp. 67-72.

76 Human Rights Watch interviews, Lae, August 5 and 6, 2006.

77 Human Rights Watch interview with guard, Boroko police station, Port Moresby, August 10, 2006.

78 Human Rights Watch interview with Deputy Commissioner Gira Moihau, August 14, 2006.