Jail no place for young offenders

A SENIOR magistrate has lamented the lack of facilities where youthful offenders could be sent instead of prison. With few options available, Magistrate Ramraj Harripersad said judicial officers were left with no alternative but to send young offenders to jail. Harripersad made the comment when he addressed a graduation ceremony for students of the Barrackpore Senior Comprehensive School. With a growing number of young offenders appearing before magistrates, Harripersad said, the orphanage at Tacarigua was woefully inadequate. The St Michael and St Jude Homes, Harripersad said, were Government-assisted Homes which lacked facilities for young offenders in need of rehabilitation.

The magistrate told the graduates teenagers were not delinquent by nature but the Judiciary was faced with the burden, of having to deal with an increase in youth delinquency. Harripersad called on Govern-ment to build such facilities in North, Central and South Trinidad, which should be staffed with professional personnel to attend to young offenders. The magistrate said he was saddened by the recent jailing of a youth by one of his colleagues on the bench. He conceded, however, that the magistrate had no alternative but to send the teen to prison.