A former deputy chairperson of the state-run Government Industrial School (GIS) has misgivings about the outcome of yet another probe into the operations of the juvenile reform institution, recently announced by Government.
Marsha Hinds, who is an advocate for the rights of women and girls, is concerned that the investigations announced on Saturday by Minister of Home Affairs Wilfred Abrahams following persistent allegations of abuse against some female wards, may not address the relationship between children in need of care and those in conflict with the law.
Hinds said on Tuesday that this is one of the key questions that continues to be left unanswered.
“When we finish the investigation, how are we going to separate children in conflict with the law and children in need of care in Barbados? How does the investigation get us to that point? UNICEF has done report after report after report; they have given us guidelines after guidelines after guidelines with respect to how Barbados can separate these two streams of children. We are not following the guidelines. That’s the difficulty,” Hinds told Barbados TODAY.
She is also contending that the children at the GIS should not be allowed to remain at the facility in Barrows, St Lucy while the probe which the minister said will last six weeks, is taking place.
“I also believe that natural justice demands that if you are doing another investigation into the Government Industrial School a mere year after you did an investigation, that the children at the Government Industrial School should be rehoused until you determine that it is safe or not safe. I believe that after having asked the public to do an investigation last year, and then now having come back to ask the public for another six weeks to do an investigation, that most fundamental and important unanswered question is where will the children of Barbados be housed, while the minister continues to determine if their status is a safe one or not,” she declared.
“Above and beyond whether we are doing an investigation or not, these are the kinds of things I would have liked to hear the minister speak to that remain unaddressed,” she stated.
In any case, Hinds finds it puzzling that the minister is conducting an investigation behind another investigation.
“I don’t understand why we are doing an investigation behind an investigation. I think the minister has admitted that the first investigation was not effective. I believe that we have enough reports that have been written about the Government Industrial School that we don’t need another investigation. What we need at the Government Industrial School is leadership and bold action,” the women’s and girls’ advocate suggested.
“He, in the press conference said that there were these allegations that have been floating around the school for years. Now, I know the minister is an intelligent man and a worldly man and he must know like the rest of us that where there are allegations that have plagued an institution historically, there must be something that is wrong. Where there is smoke, there is fire,” Hinds declared.
She thinks that whether or not another probe is done, the reality is that in six weeks, “we are going to have to be willing to act”.
Hinds pointed out that unless there is a willingness to act, no amount of investigations “will get us anywhere”.
Minister Abrahams informed a press conference at the weekend that a panel has been appointed to conduct a full departmental inquiry into operations at the Government Industrial School. The panel is to be chaired by former Deputy Police Commissioner Oral Williams and includes educator Tessa Chadderton-Shaw and former Principal of Queen’s College Coreen Kennedy-Taitt.
“I’ve decided to have a departmental inquiry into the operations at the Government Industrial Schools. A full departmental inquiry to address all of the issues that we know are on the table; to address the policies and practices at school; to address things like the curriculum, to address extracurricular activities, to address mentorship, to address all of the things that touch and concern these young ladies,” he said
“This is not one of those investigations that go into perpetuity, there is a fixed time for dealing with this. This has to be given the priority and all of the resources that Government can put at this point in time to get to the bottom, in particular, of the most recent allegations.”
Addressing the recent public outcry surrounding the incident where two teenage girls escaped from the St. Lucy facility, Abrahams said that though much of the information circulating in the media and social spaces has not been accurate, the overall state at the facilities was a troubling one.
“The recent situation concerning the absconding of the young ladies from Barrows in St. Lucy has thrown up a lot of issues that bear immediate investigation and attention. Our initial investigation, surface investigations, into what informed or what may have caused the young ladies to take the approach that they took and even certain policies and procedures at the school have yielded some serious concerns for us that we cannot possibly ignore,” he said.
Abrahams also revealed that a secondary inquiry will also be conducted into the operations at the Dodd’s Prison, with Philip Pilgrim, Q.C., chairing the committee that will include former youth commissioner Dr. Lisa Jaggernauth and senior lecturer at UWI Cave Hill Dr. Akhentoolove Corbin. Members of the public who currently have insight and information concerning operations at the facilities are being asked to share all relevant information with the committee. A telephone number and email address were being set up for citizens.
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
