J.J
02-22-2005, 05:03 AM
Children as young as 14 who are awaiting trial at the Westville prison's youth centre, have allegedly been turned into "sex slaves" by unscrupulous warders who deliver them - at a price - into the clutches of adult inmates.
So appalling are conditions under which teenagers are being kept at the Westville juvenile centre, which is managed by the social welfare and population department, that children's rights campaigners have urged the government to take drastic action to address the situation.
These shocking findings emerged at the social welfare portfolio committee meeting in the provincial parliament in Pietermaritzburg on Monday.
The findings came just weeks after President Thabo Mbeki, in his state of the nation address, announced that underage children who are languishing in KwaZulu-Natal jails, were going to receive clemency in order to ease the problem of overcrowding in South African prisons. http://red.as-eu.falkag.net/dat/bgf/trpix.gif?&rdm=01393056&dlv=631,17565,245059,125147,521928&kid=125147&chw=9137948-6125147-&tcs=&bls3=100000U&bls4=010003112818&ucl=111111A&uid=1&dmn=.saix.net&scx=800&scy=600&scc=16&jav=1&sta=,,,1,,,,,,,0,0,0,27956,27953,27943,4029,0&iid=245059&bid=521928
</SPAN>'They sexually abuse and bully each other, because there is no protection'The issue of overcrowding in the country's prisons also attracted national attention recently when a Pretoria judge, in handing down a suspended jail sentence to former African National Congress Women's League president Winnie Mandela, remarked that if the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals were to cram animals behind bars in the way the department of correctional services does its inmates, it would be charged with cruelty to animals.
ANC MP Priscilla McKay, who visited the Westville Juvenile Centre with Democratic Alliance MP Margaret Ambler-Moore on a fact-finding mission recently, told the committee on Monday that the present situation at the centre was tantamount to a "violation of children's rights".
The visit came after McKay, a children's rights campaigner, was approached by a magistrate last year about allegations that awaiting trial children were being abused by adult inmates.
The children also told the magistrate that they were not being kept in separate holding cells in courts, resulting in them being inducted into gangs by hardened criminals.
Speaking on Monday after she presented her findings to the portfolio committee, Mckay said their fact-finding mission had revealed that the conditions at the prison did not meet "minimum standard of care".
"It is an acceptable principle that should children be removed from their homes for any reason, their placement should be in the best interest of the child and meet the rights of the child. But what we found at the Westville youth centre falls short of those standards."
She said they discovered that some awaiting trial children, many of whom were boys between the ages of 14 and 17, facing charges ranging from robbery to housebreaking, had spent up to two years behind bars because their parents could not afford bail of R1 000 or less.
"We also found that children were locked up from 2pm until 6am without any adult supervision. During this time they sexually abuse and bully each other, because there is no protection."
They also found that cells designed to hold 20 children housed about 50.
"But what is even more disturbing is that we received information that warders sell these children to inmates for sex. They allegedly take them to adult cells at night and receive money."
Joan Van Niekerk from Child Line said she was delighted that the matter had finally come into the open.
"We wrote a letter to the Jali Commission while it was sitting in Durban, asking the commission to give us a chance to make a presentation on this matter. I am delighted that the parliamentarians have discovered this for themselves. Maybe something will now be done."
She said many of the children behind bars were in that situation because of their socio-economic background.
Van Niekerk said that by improving conditions in juvenile prisons, the government would be investing in the future of the country.
So appalling are conditions under which teenagers are being kept at the Westville juvenile centre, which is managed by the social welfare and population department, that children's rights campaigners have urged the government to take drastic action to address the situation.
These shocking findings emerged at the social welfare portfolio committee meeting in the provincial parliament in Pietermaritzburg on Monday.
The findings came just weeks after President Thabo Mbeki, in his state of the nation address, announced that underage children who are languishing in KwaZulu-Natal jails, were going to receive clemency in order to ease the problem of overcrowding in South African prisons. http://red.as-eu.falkag.net/dat/bgf/trpix.gif?&rdm=01393056&dlv=631,17565,245059,125147,521928&kid=125147&chw=9137948-6125147-&tcs=&bls3=100000U&bls4=010003112818&ucl=111111A&uid=1&dmn=.saix.net&scx=800&scy=600&scc=16&jav=1&sta=,,,1,,,,,,,0,0,0,27956,27953,27943,4029,0&iid=245059&bid=521928
</SPAN>'They sexually abuse and bully each other, because there is no protection'The issue of overcrowding in the country's prisons also attracted national attention recently when a Pretoria judge, in handing down a suspended jail sentence to former African National Congress Women's League president Winnie Mandela, remarked that if the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals were to cram animals behind bars in the way the department of correctional services does its inmates, it would be charged with cruelty to animals.
ANC MP Priscilla McKay, who visited the Westville Juvenile Centre with Democratic Alliance MP Margaret Ambler-Moore on a fact-finding mission recently, told the committee on Monday that the present situation at the centre was tantamount to a "violation of children's rights".
The visit came after McKay, a children's rights campaigner, was approached by a magistrate last year about allegations that awaiting trial children were being abused by adult inmates.
The children also told the magistrate that they were not being kept in separate holding cells in courts, resulting in them being inducted into gangs by hardened criminals.
Speaking on Monday after she presented her findings to the portfolio committee, Mckay said their fact-finding mission had revealed that the conditions at the prison did not meet "minimum standard of care".
"It is an acceptable principle that should children be removed from their homes for any reason, their placement should be in the best interest of the child and meet the rights of the child. But what we found at the Westville youth centre falls short of those standards."
She said they discovered that some awaiting trial children, many of whom were boys between the ages of 14 and 17, facing charges ranging from robbery to housebreaking, had spent up to two years behind bars because their parents could not afford bail of R1 000 or less.
"We also found that children were locked up from 2pm until 6am without any adult supervision. During this time they sexually abuse and bully each other, because there is no protection."
They also found that cells designed to hold 20 children housed about 50.
"But what is even more disturbing is that we received information that warders sell these children to inmates for sex. They allegedly take them to adult cells at night and receive money."
Joan Van Niekerk from Child Line said she was delighted that the matter had finally come into the open.
"We wrote a letter to the Jali Commission while it was sitting in Durban, asking the commission to give us a chance to make a presentation on this matter. I am delighted that the parliamentarians have discovered this for themselves. Maybe something will now be done."
She said many of the children behind bars were in that situation because of their socio-economic background.
Van Niekerk said that by improving conditions in juvenile prisons, the government would be investing in the future of the country.