The document expresses concerns about plans to spend $75 million renovating 5 police lock-ups to accommodate more children. It argues the data does not support expanding capacity, as weekly intakes are typically far lower than the planned maximum capacities. The funds could be better spent on alternatives like a remand center for girls or an adolescent psychiatric ward to help children in need.

1. Renovating Police Lock-Ups: Unnecessary Expenditure
Recently, the Minster of Youth and Culture,Lisa Hanna formally announced plans to allocate $75 million
to the retrofitting and renovation of 5 police lock-ups across the island to allow them to better
accommodate children. This was one of the recommendations made by the Inter-Ministerial Working
Group which had been assembled by the Minister last September, and is part of a plan which will extend
to all 14 parishes over time, at a cost that is not yet known.
Reports from The Gleaner published on June 5, 2013 publicly detail specific plans to upgrade three
facilities: Moneague in St. Ann, Nain in St. Elizabeth and Bridgeport in St. Catherine. This group
represents the majority of the initial five police stations to be renovated, and presumably will require a
substantial portion of the funding allotted.
Jamaicans for Justice’s Child Rights Working Group (CRWG) and the network of NGOs with which it
collaborateshave serious concerns about the proposal. The CRWG questions whether the plan to expand
police lock-ups for children is in the best interests of the children, is in line with known best practice or is
the most efficient expenditure of $75 million dollars, at a time when it is more important than ever to get
the most impactful results from the money available for the improvement of the lives of children in the
custody of the State.
The 75 million dollar expenditure proposed by the Inter Ministerial working group for the retrofitting of
police lockups could, we contend, be far better spent elsewhere. It could be used to renovate an existing
facility as the first regional remand centre for girls, so that they could be housed in something other than
a prison. It could, for example, build an adolescent psychiatric ward at UWI to care for those most
challenged and at risk (a plan exists for this and it would only require $40 million), as well as employ
more than half dozen Psychologists and psychiatrists to care for them. Or it could provide foster care for
more than 1000 children at risk and support the provision of counseling support for those who need it.
In this time of financial constraint, it is imperative that all Ministries and Agencies spend their funds
wisely.
Another of the CRWG’s concerns about the proposal is that the data available to us does not support the
expansion of holding capacity for children at police lock-ups. According to the Gleaner stories,
MoneaguePolice Station is slated to receive an additional 15 cells to hold 3 persons each – a capacity of
45 persons, and the Bridgeport facility will more than double its current holding capacity of 12.
The CRWG reviewed the 2012 weekly figures for children held at the Moneague, Nain and Bridgeport
police stations, as given by theJCF Detention and Courts Division in documents they send to the CDA
every Friday.Of the 3 stations, Moneague typically reported the highest number of children; the highest
figure for the year was for one week in April 2012, when 14 children were reported for that station, far
fewer than the 45 new spaces reportedly being created. . However, for most weeks during 2012, fewer
than 10 children were reportedly held at that station. The highest number of children reported at the
Nain station in 2012 was 8 and there were many weeks in which no children were reportedly being held
at that station. The highest number of children reported at the Brigdeportlock up was 8, but numbers of
0, 1 and 2 were far more typical. These reports are based on the figures at the police stations on a Friday,
and we call on the Ministers to provide the public with the data of children in custody throughout the
week, if that data shows a significantly different picture.

2. These three facilities seem capable of handling the numbers of children currently being taken into
custody, and the CRWG maintains that an analysis of the offences for which children are being housed at
police stations indicates that many of these children ought not to be kept there at all. Renovations
designed towards increasing capacityappear to be an unnecessary expenditure of resources and would
seem to speak to an entrenched culture of punitive rather than rehabilitative approaches in the childcare
system.
We are calling on the Minister of Youth and Culture and the Minister of National Security to make public
the data on which the decision for this expenditure was made, and which would justify the spending of
$75 million on lock-ups for children at 5 police stations.Answers to these questions would help to clarify
their thinking: What data is this proposal based on? How many children are rightly being kept in police lockups
and remand facilities? What is the operational budget for operating these stations with children?
The way to begin solving the issue of children on remand and in police lock-ups is not to equip them to
accept even more of them, but rather to rehabilitate the children currently on remand while
simultaneously ensuring that children who are taken into custody are physically removed within 24
hours. These two issues are among the most urgent, and should occupy a central position in the initial
steps for the state’s planned reforms.
We do encourage the Ministry to ensure that children who are taken into a police station are kept
separate from adult detainees and are housed in humane conditions. We believe, however, that this can
be achieved with far less expenditure and that the available resources should be put towards the
provision of other programmes and spaces which ensure that the fewest number of children spend the
least amount of time in a police lock up and that all children in need get the services and support to which
they are entitled.

3. Supplementary Data
The weekly numbers that follow strongly suggest that an expansion of these facilities to accommodate
more children is at this point, an unnecessary measure. Though no specific details have been released to
the CRWG and its affiliates regarding the slated expansion of the Nain facility, it seems clear that the
Moneague and Bridgeport facilities should be functional under their current capacity.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Moneague: Average Number of Children Held
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Bridgeport: Average Number of Children Held

4. Even when one extracts the single highest weekly intake for each of the stations, their totals are
significantly lower than their intended maximum capacity.
* Note: Graphical representation of the Nain facility has been excluded due to lack of comparative
quantitative data on State plans for upgrades.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Moneague Bridgeport
Moneague & Bridgeport: Peak Actual Intake
vs. Planned Maximum Capacity
Peak Intake
Slated Upgraded Capacity

5. Children in Police Lock-Ups:
Figures extracted from Weekly CDA Reports on Children in Police Custody for the Moneague, Nain and Bridgeport Facilities.
◄ Dec 2011 January 2012 Feb 2012 ►
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3 4 5 6
Moneague: 2
Nain: 5
Bridgeport: 3
7
8 9 10 11 12 13
Moneague: 7
Nain: 1
Bridgeport: 6
14
15 16 17 18 19 20
Moneague: 3
Nain: 4
Bridgeport: 1
21
22 23 24 25 26 27
Moneague: 3
Nain: 2
Bridgeport: 0
28
29 30 31
Monthly Averages:
Moneague: 3.75 children per week
Nain: 3 children per week
Bridgeport: 2.5 children per week

6. Weekly Report to the CDA: Children in Custody at Moneague, Nain and Bridgeport Police Stations
◄ Jan 2012 February 2012 Mar 2012 ►
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3
Moneague: 2
Nain: 3
Bridgeport: 1
4
5 6 7 8 9 10
Moneague: 4
Nain: 4
Bridgeport: 3
11
12 13 14 15 16 17
Moneague: 4
Nain: 4
Bridgeport: 3
18
19 20 21 22 23 24
Moneague: 4
Nain: 6
Bridgeport: 4
25
26 27 28 29
Monthly Averages:
Moneague: 4.5 children per week
Nain: 4.25 children per week
Bridgeport:2.75 children per week

7. Weekly Report to the CDA: Children in Custody at Moneague, Nain and Bridgeport Police Stations
◄ Feb 2012 March 2012 Apr 2012 ►
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2
Moneague: 1
Nain: 5
Bridgeport: 2
3
4 5 6 7 8 9
Moneague: 4
Nain: 3
Bridgeport: 2
10
11 12 13 14 15 16
Moneague: 8
Nain: 5
Bridgeport: 3
17
18 19 20 21 22 23
Moneague: 3
Nain: 0
Bridgeport: 3
24
25 26 27 28 29
Moneague: 6
Nain: 2
Bridgeport: 1
30 31
Monthly Averages:
Moneague: 4.4 children per week
Nain: 3 children per week
Bridgeport: 1.8 children per week

8. Weekly Report to the CDA: Children in Custody at Moneague, Nain and Bridgeport Police Stations
◄ Mar 2012 April 2012 May 2012 ►
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3 4 5 6
Moneague: 3
Nain: 0
Bridgeport: 2
7
8 9 10 11 12 13
Moneague: 9
Nain: 2
Bridgeport: 0
14
15 16 17 18 19 20
Moneague: 14
Nain: 3
Bridgeport: 3
21
22 23 24 25 26 27
Moneague: 7
Nain: 1
Bridgeport: 3
28
29 30
Monthly Averages:
Moneague: 8.25 children per week
Nain: 1.5 children per week
Bridgeport: 2 children per week

9. Weekly Report to the CDA: Children in Custody at Moneague, Nain and Bridgeport Police Stations
◄ Apr 2012 May 2012 Jun 2012 ►
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3 4
Moneague: 10
Nain: 1
Bridgeport: 2
5
6 7 8 9 10 11
Moneague: 12
Nain: 1
Bridgeport: 6
12
13 14 15 16 17 18
Moneague: 5
Nain: 2
Bridgeport: 1
19
20 21 22 23 24 25
Moneague: 6
Nain: 1
Bridgeport: 5
26
27 28 29 30 31
Monthly Averages:
Moneague: 8.25 children per week
Nain: 1.25 children per week
Bridgeport: 3.5 children per week

10. Weekly Report to the CDA: Children in Custody at Moneague, Nain and Bridgeport Police Stations
◄ May 2012 June 2012 Jul 2012 ►
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1
Moneague: 7
Nain: 0
Bridgeport: 3
2
3 4 5 6 7 8
Moneague: 13
Nain: 0
Bridgeport:4
9
10 11 12 13 14 15
Moneague: 10
Nain: 5
Bridgeport: 3
16
17 18 19 20 21 22
Moneague: 4
Nain: 2
Bridgeport: 1
23
24 25 26 27 28 29
Moneague: 11
Nain: 4
Bridgeport: 3
30
Monthly Averages:
Moneague: 11.25 children per week
Nain: 2.75 children per week
Bridgeport: 3.5children per week

11. Weekly Report to the CDA: Children in Custody at Moneague, Nain and Bridgeport Police Stations
◄ Jun 2012 July 2012 Aug 2012 ►
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3 4 5 6
Moneague: 10
Nain: 7
Bridgeport: 5
7
8 9 10 11 12 13
Moneague: 8
Nain: 8
Bridgeport: 8
14
15 16 17 18 19 20
Moneague: 8
Nain: 6
Bridgeport: 1
21
22 23 24 25 26 27
Moneague: 7
Nain: 3
Bridgeport: 0
28
29 30 31
Monthly Averages:
Moneague: 8.25 children per week
Nain: 6 children per week
Bridgeport: 3.5 children per week

12. Weekly Report to the CDA: Children in Custody at Moneague, Nain and Bridgeport Police Stations
◄ Jul 2012 August 2012 Sep 2012 ►
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3
Moneague: 7
Nain: 1
Bridgeport:0
4
5 6 7 8 9 10
Moneague: 12
Nain: 1
Bridgeport: 1
11
12 13 14 15 16 17
Moneague: 2
Nain: 2
Bridgeport: 0
18
19 20 21 22 23 24
[no data
provided]
25
26 27 28 29 30 31
Moneague: 0
Nain: 0
Bridgeport: 0
Monthly Averages:
Moneague: 4.2 children per week
Nain: 0.8 children per week
Bridgeport: 0.25 children per week

Based on incomplete data.

13. Weekly Report to the CDA: Children in Custody at Moneague, Nain and Bridgeport Police Stations
◄ Aug 2012 September 2012 Oct 2012 ►
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1
2 3 4 5 6 7
Moneague: 7
Nain: 0
Bridgeport: 0
8
9 10 11 12 13 14
Moneague: 1
Nain: 0
Bridgeport: 0
15
16 17 18 19 20 21
Moneague: 1
Nain: 0
Bridgeport: 0
22
23 24 25 26 27 28
Moneague: 2
Nain: 0
Bridgeport: 0
29
30
Monthly Averages:
Moneague: 2.75 children per week
Nain: 0 children per week
Bridgeport: 0 children per week

14. Weekly Report to the CDA: Children in Custody at Moneague, Nain and Bridgeport Police Stations
◄ Sep 2012 October 2012 Nov 2012 ►
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3 4 5
[no data
provided[
6
7 8 9 10 11 12
Moneague: 5
Nain: 2
Bridgeport: 2
13
14 15 16 17 18 19
Moneague: 1
Nain: 0
Bridgeport: 1
20
21 22 23 24 25 26
Moneague: 0
Nain: 3
Bridgeport: 0
27
28 29 30 31
Monthly Averages:
Moneague: 1.5 children per week
Nain: 1.25 children per week
Bridgeport: 0.75 children per week

Based on incomplete data.

15. Weekly Report to the CDA: Children in Custody at Moneague, Nain and Bridgeport Police Stations
◄ Oct 2012 November 2012 Dec 2012 ►
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2
Moneague: 2
Nain: 0
Bridgeport:1
3
4 5 6 7 8 9
Moneague:4
Nain: 0
Bridgeport:1
10
11 12 13 14 15 16
Moneague: 2
Nain: 0
Bridgeport: 1
17
18 19 20 21 22 23
Moneague: 2
Nain: 2
Bridgeport: 1
24
25 26 27 28 29 30
Moneague: 3
Nain: 1
Bridgeport: 0
Monthly Averages:
Moneague: 2.6 children per week
Nain: 0.6 children per week
Bridgeport: 0.8 children per week

16. Weekly Report to the CDA: Children in Custody at Moneague, Nain and Bridgeport Police Stations
◄ Nov 2012 December 2012 Jan 2013 ►
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1
2 3 4 5 6 7
Moneague: 1
Nain: 2
Bridgeport: 0
8
9 10 11 12 13 14
Moneague: 2
Nain: 0
Bridgeport: 0
15
16 17 18 19 20 21
Moneague: 0
Nain: 0
Bridgeport: 1
22
23 24 25 26 27 28
Moneague: 2
Nain: 0
Bridgeport: 0
29
30 31
Monthly Averages:
Moneague: 1.25 children per week
Nain: 0.5 children per week
Bridgeport: 0.25 children per week