INDECOM wants better trained warders for jailed juveniles

The INDECOM headquarters in St Andrew

THE Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) wants an increase in staff training and consistent and frequent assessments of juveniles held in the custody of the Department of Correctional Services (DCS).

The call was made in INDECOM's latest quarterly report (April-June), tabled in the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

It was triggered by information obtained by the commission during its investigations into the November 2012 suicide by Vanessa Wint, a ward at the Horizon Adult Remand Centre on Spanish Town Road in St Andrew.

After Wint committed suicide in the remand centre, a public outcry about her detention at an adult jail led INDECOM to begin investigations into the circumstances that led to her death.

In its report, INDECOM noted that an inquest into her death had found that she committed suicide, “which was contributed to by the neglect of Horizon Remand Centre, in failing to ensure that an adequate suicide watch was put in place and properly implemented, when she was locked down in her cell on that evening”.

INDECOM said that its investigations identified a number of critical factors that were potentially contributory to her death.

These included that there was: No established best practice on how to manage a ward who exhibited a proclivity to self-harm; no evidence that correctional officers were given any specific training to respond to suicide attempts; a time lapse which prevented responders from entering the cell to render first aid to her; and no proper tools available for cutting her down from a sheet tied around her neck.

INDECOM said that although the superintendent on duty recommended measures be put in place to prevent her from harming herself, he could not have anticipated that she would have reached into an adjoining cell to grab a sheet.

It also said that the design of the observational area presented a blind spot which prevented a view of the entire cell and made it unlikely that any correctional officer would have detected her actions.

The commission also noted that, according to Rule 53 of the United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of Liberty, a juvenile who is suffering from mental illness should be treated in a specialised institution under independent medical management.

“Steps should also be taken to ensure the continued delivery of mental health care post-release,” the INDECOM report added.