INNOCENT KIDS LOCKED IN JUVIE JAIL

Parents in Swaziland are paying up to E10,000 a year to have their children locked up in juvenile jail even though they have committed no offence.

They are incarcerated at Vulamasango School, ‘with the hope they might develop desirable attitudes and behaviour towards society and the environment’, the Observer on Saturday newspaper reported (13 May 2017).

The children who are at both primary and high school level are, ‘mixed with hard core criminals, some held for serious crimes and are members of different notorious prison gangs’, the newspaper said.

It reported, ‘The children are surrounded by guards everywhere, every time of their lives in that prison school even during lessons and also in the cells called dormitories. They are reportedly forced to remain within the correctional facilities with none allowed to commute like it used to happen.

‘The girls are accommodated at the Mawelawela Women Correctional Services whilst the boys are accommodated within the school.’

Child rights NGO Save The Children told the newspaper that a number of children have been committed to correctional facilities without being convicted, of a crime.

The Observer on Saturday reported, ‘the institution allegedly charges these children at primary school E7,500 and E10,000 (US$760) at high school, annually and respectively’. 

This latest report is one of many from Swaziland about innocent children being locked up. In June 2016,  it was reported that children as young as eleven were incarnated in juvenile correction facilities in Swaziland for up to ten years, even though they had committed no crimes. 

And, the trend to lock innocent children up was increasing, a United Nations group examining human rights in Swaziland was told. Parents collaborate with the Commissioner of Correctional Services in what was described as ‘the best interests of the child’.

A report submitted jointly to the United Nations Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review of Swaziland April-May 2016 by SOS-Swaziland, Super Buddies, Prison Fellowship and Luvatsi – Swaziland Youth Empowerment Organisation, gave the example of one child aged 11.

Their report stated, ‘There is a growing trend of child and youth abuse done by the state and the parents purportedly in “the best interests of the child”. Children and youths are illegal incarcerated in prison centres by parents in collaboration with the Commissioner of Correctional Services who claims that the children are unruly. 

‘In one incident, Grace (not her real name) who is a single parent to John (not his real name) wrote a request letter to the Commissioner of Correctional Services requesting that John be incarcerated for unruly behaviour. In the letter, Grace states her concerns that eleven years old John might not finish school; hence her reason for wanting him incarcerated and attending the juvenile school at Malkerns Industrial School for Rehabilitation.

‘Responding to the same letter of request by Grace, the Commissioner of Correctional Services stated that under normal circumstances, they do not admit persons who have not been sentenced by the courts and directed therein through committal warrants. 

‘However, the Commissioner agreed to rehabilitate John under the stated conditions; that the 11 years old John is institutionalised at the juvenile school for 10 years; there is an order from a presiding officer giving him a custodial order of ten years without remission; and that he will cooperate with His Majesty’s Correctional Services while under its care. 

‘With that response, Grace [sic] the letter to a presiding officer who then wrote a custodial order for the stipulated time and John was admitted to the juvenile school in 2013. The 11 years old John lodges with other juveniles who have been charged by the court of law for various crimes they have committed. Grace pays tuition fees and up-keep fees for John, and she will continue doing so for the next ten years until 11 years old John is 21 years. 

‘This case is one of many, and the children are of different ages and varying backgrounds. It is only recently that a joint task team comprising of UNICEF, Prison Fellowship Swaziland, Lawyers for Human Rights-Swaziland, Save the Children Swaziland working together with the department of home affairs are exploring means to curb this situation and probably provide solutions for both the parents and children.’

In 2012, the Times Sunday newspaper in Swaziland reported that Isaiah Mzuthini Ntshangase, Swaziland’s Correctional Services Commissioner, was encouraging parents to send their ‘unruly children’ to the facility if they thought they were badly behaved.

Ntshangase was speaking at the open day of the Juvenile Industrial School at the Mdutshane Correctional Institution. He told the newspaper, ‘Noticing the strife that parents go through when raising some of their children who are unruly, we decided to open our doors to assist them.’ 

The school not only corrected offenders but assisted ‘in the fight against crime by rooting out elements from a tender age’, the newspaper reported him saying. The children ‘will be locked up, rehabilitated and integrated back to society’, the Times reported.

The school accommodates pupils who were both in conflict with the law as well as delinquents, the Times said. There were 279 children locked up at the time of the interview.

The Times interviewed some of the inmates and found a 15-year-old girl locked up by her guardian because she had developed a relationship with a boyfriend that the guardian did not like.

Another girl interviewed was an orphan who ‘lived a town life’. She was reported saying, ‘In our dormitories which we share, we are deprived all the nice and good things.’ 

She added the rules at the institution were tough, ‘This place is not for the faint-hearted because you lose a lot of privileges that are freely accessible outside. There is neither clubbing, drinking nor time for boys.’

One unemployed father of an 11-year-old boy said he put his son in the facility because he did not have money to pay school fees. ‘I am grateful that my son is in school. I cannot afford his education because I am old. My wish is that he finishes school to earn a decent living,’ he said.

The guardian of one girl said before she was admitted at the school, she had not been able to contain her behaviour. ‘My biggest problem was that I had lost her. She dropped out of school together with my niece (sister’s daughter) who is an orphan,’ she said.

Children reported that they were not beaten but they were badly fed, getting their supper at around 3pm, which meant they went to bed hungry.

This was not the first time the Swazi juvenile correction facility had been under the spotlight.

In August 2010, it was revealed that a 12-year-old boy was serving one year in Mdutshane because he insulted his grandmother. He had been sentenced to an E300 fine (about US$30 at the then exchange rate), but was too poor to pay so was jailed instead.

See also

JUVENILE CENTRE ‘HELL ON EARTH’

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2017/05/juvenile-centre-hell-on-earth.html

 

KIDS WHO COMMIT NO CRIME LOCKED UP

http://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/kids-who-commit-no-crime-locked-up.html  

BOY, 12, JAILED FOR INSULTING GRANNY

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2010/08/boy-12-jailed-for-insulting-granny.html

JUVENILE CENTRE ‘HELL ON EARTH’

A former pupil convict at Vulamasango, a school for juvenile offenders in Swaziland, has described it as being like ‘hell on earth’.

The Observer on Saturday newspaper (6 May 2017) in Swaziland reported, ‘While there he has experienced, first hand, brutal deaths, stabbings, tortures that remain irascible in his memory and is most likely to carry to his final resting place. In the case of the learner who died in the cells called dormitories he had been subjected to severe beatings two days earlier and when he died on the third day his death was dissociated from the beatings.’

The newspaper reported, ‘Corporal punishment is nothing closer to rehabilitation, says the pupil. Hordes of warders descend on their victim like a swarm of vultures, beating the daylights out of their captive as though themselves relieving themselves of their many stresses. They beat the victim until some even soil and urinate themselves. At times the uniform is removed to inflict the injuries on bear flesh, adds the pupil.’

The newspaper did not name the former pupil.

Vulamasango was until August 2015 known as Malkerns Industrial School. In March 2014 an inspection report called Malkerns Industrial School Students Violence Probe was leaked to the Observer on Saturday.

The report said warders at the juvenile jail stripped naked, handcuffed and beat children in their care. They inserted fingers into girls’ private parts and forced one boy to drink his own urine. The revelations followed reports in 2013 that warders at the same juvenile jail assaulted children systematically for more than five hours.

The Observer reported there was violence at Malkerns Industrial School on 18 June 2013, when one of the boys fought and stabbed another offender with a sharpened toothbrush.

The newspaper reported, ‘The aggressor was instantly beaten without a hearing and all boys known to be his friends were handcuffed and beaten in the still of the night.’

It added, ‘The next morning all teachers were ordered to conduct a strip search, apparently an order coming from the commissioner himself who is alleged to have said ‘uma kufanele, isende lomntwana alibanjwe’ (squeeze their testicles).’

The Observer said the investigation reported there was sporadic use of force at the juvenile industrial school dormitories, ‘which is protected by the head-teacher and remains unreported mainly because the administration also participates in the violence’.

The Observer reported that female correction officers, ‘inserted their fingers into the girls’ private parts using one glove on all the students, exposing them to risks of contracting infectious diseases’.

The newspaper also reported that one child, ‘was beaten such that he urinated and was later forced to drink his urine.

‘“I drank it because of the beatings I received,” the boy reportedly said.

Another child said, ‘My hands and testicles were pressed by the officers who were wearing their boots I thought they were killing me. My only sin was that they found tattoos on my body.’

The Observer reported another child said, ‘I was bleeding from the ears after I was kicked all over the body by the officers.’

This was not the first time violent behaviour by warders hit the headlines. In 2013 it was reported that children at the industrial school were systematically assaulted for more than five hours by warders.

Some of the children were forced to strip naked for beatings by the officers who used belts, sneakers, open hands and feet to assault them all over their bodies.

The Swazi News newspaper reported at the time that 15 officers were involved and more than two thirds of the 430 pupils at the school were assaulted from 8.30 am until after 2.00 pm, during one day. 

One child interviewed by the newspaper said, ‘They were using belts, open hands and an All-Star (sneaker). We were ordered to strip naked before being assaulted all over the body, indiscriminately.’

The attack was also described by another as being worse than police torture known as ‘lishubhu’. Another said, ‘Besi bulawa (we were being murdered).’

When asked why they were assaulted, one pupil responded, ‘Watsi lomunye thishela basi faka luvalo (one of the teachers told us that they were instilling fear).’

The pupils said they did not report the matter to the police because they feared being victimised.

See also

KIDS WHO COMMIT NO CRIME LOCKED UP

http://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/kids-who-commit-no-crime-locked-up.html  

BOY, 12, JAILED FOR INSULTING GRANNY

http://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/boy-12-jailed-for-insulting-granny.html

 

INNOCENT BOY, 11, LOCKED UP FOR 10 YEARS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2016/06/innocent-boy-11-locked-up-for-10-years.html

JAIL WARDERS SEXUALLY ASSAULT KIDS

Warders at a juvenile jail in Swaziland stripped naked, handcuffed and beat children in their care. They inserted fingers into girls’ private parts and forced one boy to drink his own urine.

The revelations at Malkerns Industrial School follow reports in 2013 that warders at the same juvenile jail assaulted children systematically for more than five hours.

The latest revelations are contained in an inspection report called Malkerns Industrial School Students Violence Probe which was leaked to the Observer on Saturday newspaper in Swaziland.

The newspaper reported there was violence at Malkerns Industrial School on 18 June 2013, when one of the boys fought and stabbed another offender with a sharpened toothbrush.

The newspaper reported, ‘The aggressor was instantly beaten without a hearing and all boys known to be his friends were handcuffed and beaten in the still of the night.’

It added, ‘The next morning all teachers were ordered to conduct a strip search, apparently an order coming from the commissioner himself who is alleged to have said ‘uma kufanele, isende lomntwana alibanjwe’ (squeeze their testicles).’

The Observer said the investigation reported there was sporadic use of force at the juvenile industrial school dormitories, ‘which is protected by the head-teacher and remains unreported mainly because the administration also participates in the violence’.

The Observer reported that female correction officers, ‘inserted their fingers into the girls’ private parts using one glove on all the students, exposing them to risks of contracting infectious diseases’.

The newspaper also reported that one child, ‘was beaten such that he urinated and was later forced to drink his urine.

‘“I drank it because of the beatings I received,” the boy reportedly said.

Another child said, ‘My hands and testicles were pressed by the officers who were wearing their boots I thought they were killing me. My only sin was that they found tattoos on my body.’

The Observer reported another child said, ‘I was bleeding from the ears after I was kicked all over the body by the officers.’

This is not the first time violent behaviour by warders has hit the headlines. In 2013 it was reported that children at the industrial school were systematically assaulted for more than five hours by warders.

Some of the children were forced to strip naked for beatings by the officers who used belts, sneakers, open hands and feet to assault them all over their bodies.

The Swazi News newspaper reported at the time that 15 officers were involved and more than two thirds of the 430 pupils at the school were assaulted from 8.30 am until after 2.00 pm, during one day.

One child interviewed by the newspaper said, ‘They were using belts, open hands and an All-Star (sneaker). We were ordered to strip naked before being assaulted all over the body, indiscriminately.’

The attack was also described by another as being worse than police torture known as ‘lishubhu’.

Another said, ‘Besi bulawa (we were being murdered).’

When asked why they were assaulted, one pupil responded, ‘Watsi lomunye thishela basi faka luvalo (one of the teachers told us that they were instilling fear).’

The pupils said they did not report the matter to the police because they feared being victimised.

See also

KIDS WHO COMMIT NO CRIME LOCKED UP

http://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/kids-who-commit-no-crime-locked-up.html 

BOY, 12, JAILED FOR INSULTING GRANNY

http://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/boy-12-jailed-for-insulting-granny.html

JAIL OFFICERS ASSAULT KIDS FOR 5 HOURS

Children at the Malkerns Juvenile Industrial School were systematically assaulted for more than five hours by correctional service officers.

Some of the children were forced to strip naked for beatings by the officers who used belts, sneakers, open hands and feet to assault them all over their bodies.

The Swazi News newspaper reported that 15 officers were involved and more than two thirds of the 430 pupils at the school were assaulted from 8.30 am until after 2.00 pm, during a day last week. 

One child interviewed by the newspaper said, ‘They were using belts, open hands and an All-Star (sneaker). We were ordered to strip naked before being assaulted all over the body, indiscriminately.’

The attack was also described by another as being worse than police torture known as ‘lishubhu’.

Another said, ‘Besi bulawa (we were being murdered).’

When asked why they were assaulted, one pupil responded, ‘Watsi lomunye thishela basi faka luvalo (one of the teachers told us that they were instilling fear).’

The pupils said they did not report the matter to the police because they feared being victimised.

Pupils at the school include juvenile offenders and children who live near nearby.

Correctional Services Commissioner Mzuthini Ntshangase told the newspaper, ‘Thina besicala ukube thusa (It was the first time we used corporal punishment).’ He said the officers only used a stick to deliver corporal punishment.

See also

KIDS WHO COMMIT NO CRIME LOCKED UP

http://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/kids-who-commit-no-crime-locked-up.html  

BOY, 12, JAILED FOR INSULTING GRANNY

http://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/boy-12-jailed-for-insulting-granny.html

KIDS WHO COMMIT NO CRIME LOCKED UP

Children in Swaziland are being locked up in juvenile detention, even though they have committed no crime.

And, Isaiah Mzuthini Ntshangase, Swaziland’s Correctional Services Commissioner, is encouraging parents to send their ‘unruly children’ to the facility if they think they are badly behaved.

Ntshangase was speaking at the open day of the Juvenile Industrial School at the Mdutshane Correctional Institution. He told the Times Sunday newspaper in Swaziland, ‘Noticing the strife that parents go through when raising some of their children who are unruly, we decided to open our doors to assist them.’ 

The school not only corrected offenders but assisted ‘in the fight against crime by rooting out elements from a tender age’, the newspaper reported him saying. The children ‘will be locked up, rehabilitated and integrated back to society’, the Times reported.

The school accommodates pupils who were both in conflict with the law as well as delinquents, the Times said. There are presently 279 children locked up.

Although the newspaper did not say so, this means children who have committed no crime and have not been sentenced by the courts are locked up alongside criminals and treated as if they had broken the law.

The Times interviewed some of the inmates and found a 15-year-old girl locked up by her guardian because she had developed a relationship with a boyfriend that the guardian did not like.

Another girl interviewed was an orphan who ‘lived a town life’. She was reported saying, ‘In our dormitories which we share, we are deprived all the nice and good things.’

She added the rules at the institution were tough, ‘This place is not for the faint-hearted because you lose a lot of privileges that are freely accessible outside. There is neither clubbing, drinking nor time for boys.’

One unemployed father of an 11-year-old boy said he put his son in the facility because he did not have money to pay school fees. ‘I am grateful that my son is in school. I cannot afford his education because I am old. My wish is that he finishes school to earn a decent living,’ he said.

The guardian of one girl said before she was admitted at the school, she had not been able to contain her behaviour. ‘My biggest problem was that I had lost her. She dropped out of school together with my niece (sister’s daughter) who is an orphan,’ she said.

Children reported that they were not beaten but they were badly fed, getting their supper at around 3pm, which meant they went to bed hungry.

This is not the first time the Swazi juvenile correction facility has been under the spotlight.

In August 2010 it was revealed that a 12-year-old boy was serving one year in Mdutshane because he insulted his grandmother. He had been sentenced to an E300 fine (about US$40), but was too poor to pay so was jailed instead.

In April 2010 it was reported that a 10-year-old boy was serving ten years at the same correctional facility. Reporters were unable to discover what the boy had done to be locked up.

BOY, 12, JAILED FOR INSULTING GRANNY

A 12-year-old boy is serving one year in juvenile jail in Swaziland because he insulted his grandmother, it is revealed today (13 August 2010).

He is also locked up because he is poor.

But he is not the youngest Swazi child in prison in the kingdom, ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. That dubious honour probably goes to a 10-year-old boy who is serving 10 years.

The case of the 12-year-old came to light yesterday when he was spotted by journalists during a Juvenile’s Family Day at the Mdutshane Correctional Facility, in Malkerns, Swaziland.

The Times of Swaziland reported that the boy, who it describes as an ‘inmate’, was convicted of insulting his grandmother. He was given a year’s sentence with the option of an E300 fine (about 40 US dollars).

The prison or fine option is common in Swaziland: people who can afford it pay the fine, the others go to jail.

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was described by the Times as the ‘youngest convict’ in Swaziland, but this may not be true.

In April 2010 it was reported that a 10-year-old boy was serving ten years at the same correctional facility, sometimes known as Mdutshane Industrial School.

Commissioner of Correctional Services Isaiah Ntshangase said there were 183 youngsters at the facility. He would not confirm what the 10-year-old had done to be locked up, but the Swazi Observer said he hinted the boy had committed rape.

Ntshangase told the newspaper, ‘Some of the children we have are too young to be in prison.’