Juvenile Detention Facility

Published 13th June 2008, 2:40pm

The HRC welcomes the Government's recently revealed plans to develop a secure juvenile detention facility (stated in Budget Address with CI$1.0m funds earmarked) given that the Cayman Islands remains in breach of a number of international human rights conventions in relation to our treatment of juvenile offenders.

In its Final Report 3/07, the HRC found Cayman had committed a number of prima facie human rights breaches of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Beijing Rules and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). All five cases (‘C’, ‘M’,’J’,’A’ and ‘B’) involved young girls aged 13-16 years, who were:

• tried and sentenced without legal representation or advice;
• sentenced to terms of imprisonment (an extreme measure only meant to be a last resort); 
• being detained at adult prisons, rather than separate facilities which puts the juveniles at great risk of criminal contamination;
• Cayman's mandatory sentencing regime also prevents the Court from being able to take account of the circumstances of the offender, including their young age, nature of the offence and the juvenile's circumstances and needs for other treatment.

In that regard, the Government also revealed plans to include a dedicated mental health facility. The HRC hopes such facility will be able to offer services to juvenile offenders as needed - as an alternative to incarceration, which is only an option of last resort and should only be imposed for the purposes of education and treatment of juvenile offenders.

If you would like to contact the HRC please email us at committee@humanrights.ky or telephone the HRC Office on 9450920 or 9258197.  Alternatively, written correspondence can also be sent to PO Box 30664, Grand Cayman, KY1-1203.

For further information contact: Human Rights Committee