(By: Eoghan Olkeriil Ngirudelsang)
Ngerulmud, Palau – House Bill 12-20 -2S, A bill for an act was introduced in the House of Delegates 1st day of 2nd special session yesterday to establish strict separation of adult and juvenile persons detained in Palau’s correctional facility (Jail).
This proposal will amend Chapter 50 of Title 34 of the Palau National Code regarding the duties of the Bureau of Public Safety related to persons determined to be delinquent children and Chapter 61 of Title 34 ‘The Delinquent Children Act’ to establish stricter child protection standards of detention.
Introduced by Delegates Gibbons Jr. and other delegates, the bill states in line 6-8 that current practice shows “when a child who is either suspected of, or adjudicated by a judge for committing an offense is detained, the child is detained in a facility where adults are physically present”.
Gibbons reported that this bill will require that juveniles detainees “must be housed in facilities that are separate and apart from adults”. Such separation must ensure that juvenile detainees will have “sight and sound” separation between them and adult detainees.
The bill also aims to improve juvenile rehabilitation and behavioral correction by also mandating the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) to administer Juvenile Justice programs and to require MOJ and Bureau of Public Safety to conduct assessments of programs and submit a Juvenile Justice Report to the Office of the President and the Olbiil er a Kelulau within 90 days after the passage of this proposal. The bill states that the report shall include a detailed review of each Juvenile Justice Programs including:
- Descriptive summary of each programs’ Aim and Objectives
- Financial costs of such programs
- Quantitative details for each programs including: Number of juvenile in each program broken down by age, gender and nationality.
- Detail review of each educational program provided to parents, legal guardians or responsible adult in charge of such juvenile delinquents including: How programs assist with rehabilitation of juvenile offenders, Parenting skills of guardians, conflict resolution and substance abuse awareness.
- Needs and financial assessment of future juvenile Justice programs and how they address rehabilitation or restorative’s aims and objectives of juvenile justice.
The bill further states that “ a delinquent child shall not be detained in adult jails or in a facility where adults are physically present EXCEPT for limited times before or after a court hearing for an amount of time not more than 6 hours but it remains that when a juvenile is placed in adult jail, they shall be free of all ‘sight and sound’ contact with adults.
The bill garnered support from the delegates. Delegate Ngirameketii commented that the bill is timely; that current practice mixes juvenile and adult detainees but he hoped that the new correctional facility in Ngchesar will take such practices into consideration.
In a press conference held 9 days ago on April 30, Minister Obichang reported that President Whipps has requested that the new correctional facility be completed this year. Obichang reported that the building frame is complete and many of the building’s indoor furnishing materials such as tiles have been procured. He also reported that another time consuming work has to do with electrical wiring of the building however, they are looking to complete the project this year.