By Mustapha Sesay
The Director of Prison Watch has told journalists and human rights organization that their latest report on juveniles in detention was not meant to prove anything but to stimulate dialogue with the Government, especially the Ministry of Social Welfare Gender and Children’s Affairs. Mambu Samadu Feika was speaking at the British Council in Freetown during the launch of his organisation’s report titled, ”Children and juvenile detention, study on compliance with international standards”.
Feika said the condition in which juveniles in detention lived was very deplorable and that most of them were subject to harsh physical treatment in their cells. He said that the children in detention had been made to believe that they were hardcore criminals by calling themselves with nomenclatures used by adult inmates.
Chairman of the ceremony, Richard M’Bayo who is also a Senior Human Rights Officer at the Human Right Commission of Sierra Leone said the facilities at the detention centers were obsolete and barely functioning, adding that the only two juvenile centers in the country were in Bo and Freetown. He called on the government to establish more centers and the provision of transportation for their movement to and from court.
Director of Defense for Children International, Abdul Manaf Kemokai expressed a contrary view for the establishment of more centers and instead urged parents to provide more care for their children and render support to child support institutions.
