Teens in cells ‘unacceptable’

Keeping youths in police cells is an embarrassing stain on the international reputation of New Zealand’s youth-justice system, the Children’s Commissioner says.

Police cells – where youths were kept ‘‘effectively in solitary confinement’’ – were supposed to be a last resort for the courts, but information released this week showed 11 youths were in police custody alongside adults around the country. Ministry of Justice figures showed 168 children and youths were remanded in police custody in the year to April. Of those, 127 spent more than 24 hours in police cells.

Children’s Commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft said the increase in youths being remanded in police cells was ‘‘alarming and concerning all of us’’.

‘‘These are real issues, genuinely of life and death, and when we place a child in a police cell we’re playing with fire.’’

It was ‘‘unacceptable in a civilised community", but as long as the courts had the option available to them, there would not be pressure on the Government to provide a range of community-based facilities, Judge Becroft said.

‘‘There’s no logical, principled, or sane reason to keep the police remand option there. [The option] is a stain on our otherwise good youth-justice name and it’s a continued embarrassment for us in the international community.

‘‘It’s time for the Government to put a stake in the ground, a line in the sand and say ‘We’re going to end this option’.’’

New Zealand’s principal Youth Court judge, John Walker, said judges were right to be concerned about youths jailed in police station cells.

‘‘They are effectively kept in solitary confinement, there is no facility for exercise and limited showering facilities. They receive, few, if any, visits from anyone.’’

Walker said most youths had been declared to be in need of care and protection by the Family Court.

Some young people could not be bailed because of family circumstances or not having a place to live.

Christchurch Judge Jane McMeeken put social-welfare authorities on notice on Wednesday, saying they must find accommodation for a 14-year-old boy facing a robbery charge because she could not keep remanding him to a police cell.

She visited the cell and said it was ‘‘outrageous’’ he had been kept there for several days.

A Ministry for Vulnerable Children Oranga Tamariki representative on Wednesday said no child should spend more than 24 hours in police custody, but said it was not always possible because of a recent surge in youth arrests.

Ministry South Island regional manager for youth justice Peter Whitcombe said keeping youths in adult cells was ‘‘a tragedy’’ and plans were in place to increase the number of youth-justice beds.

‘‘The number [of youth arrests] have been higher than usual over the last three weeks and that’s meant we do have the pressure on youth-justice beds,’’ he said.

A home in Dunedin was opening in late July that would house up to five young offenders who did not require a secure residence, Whitcombe said. Similar homes would also open in Rotorua, Palmerston North and Whangarei.

Plans to implement one-on-one foster-care placements in ‘‘safe, loving’’ homes in Christchurch were in the pipeline.

Yesterday even more pressure went on the system after two 16-year-olds were remanded in police cells after a Waikuku petrol station ram-raid.

The 14-year-old who had concerned Judge McMeeken was released on supported bail in Christchurch yesterday. He was ‘‘an incredibly vulnerable young man’’ who caused harm to the community, she said.

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 only be kept in cells 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 on 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 yesterday, 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-year-old 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. Christchurch 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.