Prison for Juvenile Offenders Inaugurated

22 June 2011

Boane — Mozambican Justice Minister Benvinda Levy on Wednesday inaugurated a Juvenile Recovery Prison Centre in Boane district, about 30 kilometres west of Maputo, which is intended to prepare juvenile offenders for their later reintegration into society.

This brand new prison is the first establishment in Mozambique aimed exclusively at juvenile offenders. It currently houses 142 inmates, aged between 16 and 21, sentenced by the courts to prison terms. They were transferred from other prisons where they had been incarcerated along with adult prisoners.

The prison has so far cost the state about 14 million meticais (around 483,000 US dollars), and the final cost is expected to exceed 50 million meticais.

Levy said that the purpose of the centre is not to punish young people in conflict with the law, but to create conditions for their personal and social development, which will turn them into citizens who are useful to their communities, and to the country in general.

“We cannot consider these young people as true criminals”, she said, “and so the measures to which they are subject in this establishment are less severe than those of normal prisons. Here all the conditions are established to re-educate them and recover them”.

The Boane centre will put a strong stress on education and training so that the inmates will eventually be able to improve the lives of their communities.

“We cannot stigmatise them”, Levy warned. On the contrary, it was the duty of the state to provide the basis for their academic and professional training so that they would be able to support themselves in their future lives outside of prison.

Addressing the young inmates, Levy said “you should show the prison guards, who are dealing with you as people of the same family, that you are here just because you made a mistake. And there is nobody who does not make mistakes”.

This was just a first stage, Levy explained. By 2012, there will be a further separation between prisoners aged between 16 and 18 (who are minors), and those aged between 18 and 21.

The Chiango centre in Maputo city will accommodate the youngest prisoners, and will possess conditions that allow them to continue their school studies.

AllAfrica – All the Time