The Juvenile Center was born out of a need to find suitable housing which could provide supervised accommodation for lower to medium risk juvenile offenders, in order to provide interventions and options for society, in specialized juvenile justice interdiction for offending patterns as an alternative to custody. Presently young offenders are accommodated at Her Majesty’s Prison and although they are isolated from the general prison population, this is in contravention of international conventions and raises a number of human rights concerns. The alternative to this situation was to either send juvenile offenders abroad where they would be accommodated at appropriate facilities, which would prove to be quite costly, and may have caused them additional anxiety and subsequently cause further rebellion or to identify a suitable location/building within the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) that would serve this purpose.
Realizing this need, the Minister of Home Affairs at the time, Hon. Amanda Missick put all her efforts into seeing this project take flight and painstakingly worked with her Team to bring this much needed facility to fruition. It is through her and her team’s scrupulous determination that this Juvenile Center was born.
The Juvenile Center is conveniently located on the Old Airport Road. The location is considered ideal as it sits adjacent to, but not directly within, a neighborhood. The building, belonging to Mrs. Josephine James, although in good condition, the building was renovated, retrofitted and furnished at a cost of approximately $240,000.00 so as to be most suitable for the purpose of a Juvenile Home in which to safely and securely house Juveniles.
The facility can accommodate at least twelve (12) juveniles (6 males and 6 females) in two separate sleeping quarters with shared social spaces. The recruitment of a house mother and eight (8) Juvenile Officers will manage the day to day operations of the home, with the Department of Social Development and Gender Affairs and Her Majesty’s Prison providing additional support where necessary.
The Contractor, Olympic Construction handed over the Building to the Public Works Department, Ministry of Infrastructure, Housing and Planning on September 29th, 2015 and Minister, Hon. Amanda Missick handed over the keys to the new Minister of Home Affairs, Hon. George Lightbourne.
Minister Missick stated “I am elated to see this project finally completed and ready for use, it will certainly make a difference in many lives. It is my aspiration that persons will positively benefit from the services provided and use the opportunity afforded to them through this home, to better their circumstances and rejoin society as upstanding young men and women.”
