Troubled Teens In Jail

Though they would vehemently deny it, troubled teens in boot camps and teen schools in the USA have much to be grateful for. Were they citizens of less caring nations, they would be facing far more dire circumstances than a simple lack of freedom. One such teen facility in the Cayman Islands has even come to the attention of human rights groups. “Children in the Cayman Islands as young as 14 are being housed in cells that are smaller than the average bathroom. These juvenile offenders receive no counseling and if they are lucky, they get to spend one hour a day outside. None of the windows at the Eagle House Youth Detention Centre looks out on nature; invariably the only view on offer inside the facility is of concrete walls and razor wire.

Juvenile Facilities

Commissioner of Corrections William Rattray said, “The Cayman Islands could be in breach of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.” At Fairbanks Women’s Prison, girls as young as 12 have been mixed in with adult offenders.” In the states, budgeting is, comparatively speaking, easy to secure. The Eagle House facility has been petitioning for funding since 1987 and now, twenty years later, they will be granted a mere million. Though there are, no doubt, some very spare and rough juvenile facilities in America, I would imagine none so dire that a teen lives in a box like cell with nothing but grey walls and barbed wire to contemplate. Though, it might be speculated, there would be far fewer offenders if that were the reality. August 20th, 2007 by Ann Walker