Police cells no place for kids
Amattress on a raised platform and basic toilet facilities. That was all. No natural light, no access to an exercise yard, no visitors’ rooms, and no day room. Youth Court Judge Jane McMeeken was shocked at the conditions that a 14-year-old boy was kept in at the Christchurch Central Police Station for four days this week.
Police cells are not intended for long stays and they are definitely not intended for kids. Even so, there were an estimated 11 young people staying overnight in police cells in New Zealand this week.
The Ministry for Vulnerable Children, Oranga Tamariki, states that young people should be placed in care within 24 hours of an arrest. They should be kept in cells only if they are likely to abscond or are violent, or there are no other suitable facilities. The latter seems to apply in this case.
The 14-year-old had been arrested at the weekend on charges of aggravated robbery and unlawfully taking a car. On the second of his appearances before Judge McMeeken this week, she asked about the conditions. What did he get to eat? What did he do all day? Was there access to a shower?
She arranged a visit later and called the cell ‘‘barren and desolate’’. His detainment in a cell would be ‘‘inappropriate by any measure’’, she thought, but especially so in his case, as he is ‘‘an incredibly vulnerable young man’’ who had caused harm to the community and needed constant monitoring and assistance that could not be offered in a cell. His predicament was, in one word, ‘‘outrageous’’.
Judge McMeeken stressed that this was not a criticism of the police. Nor was it a criticism of the social workers handling his case. The simple fact is there are not enough youth justice beds in Christchurch. She gave the Ministry of Social Development a deadline – if no bed could be found, he would be released on bail. And on Thursday, he was. Others have pointed out that keeping a minor in such conditions breaches children’s rights in New Zealand, including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which New Zealand ratified in 1993.
As Oranga Tamariki youth justice deputy chief executive Allan Boreham explained, a recent surge in arrests in Christchurch has put extra pressure on available space in the youth justice residence. But he agreed that the alternative solution, a prison cell, was an extremely disappointing option.
Solutions are being sought and Boreham talked of two community-based homes that will soon provide more safe places for young people. But in the meantime, the situation grows desperate. The 14-yearold was released after four days but by then, two 16-year-olds were in police cells after allegedly taking part in a ram raid on a service station. Pressure is unlikely to ease over the weekend.
If they have done nothing else, Judge McMeeken’s actions and comments have usefully highlighted a youth crime problem that seems to be growing and is finally starting to come to wider attention. Police have warned that youth crime is becoming more serious and offenders are getting younger. The issue of teenagers in desolate police cells is one of many side effects.
The judge called the cell 'barren and desolate'.