Blair pointed out that Major Reese was convinced that the society had to do more in "treating the source of the problem".

While acknowledging the complexity of these social problems, Blair's article listed the following initiatives that were carried out at Tamarind Farm in an effort to rehabilitate young incarcerated males.

Since 2005 the local media have not highlighted the issues of juvenile delinquents to any extent.

Like most other prime-time issues 'the nine-day-wonder syndrome' created a deafening silence until February 10 when the headlines of The Gleaner blared 'Prison Unrest'. On this date, the Jamaican nation was told that female juveniles were creating chaos at the Fort Augusta Adult Correctional Centre .

It was reported that this was not a simple rumble. This was a serious event and one warder was stabbed and another was doused with urine and faeces by the 'irate juveniles'.

According to The Gleaner report, the chairman of the Jamaican Federation of Correctional Services has stated that the situation was serious and the adult inmates were demanding that the juveniles be removed from Fort Augusta.

Publicly funded

This situation should serve to remind us that the Government of Jamaica has ratified the Convention on The Rights of the Child and has since put in place the fully staffed and publicly funded Child Development Agency and the Office of the Children's Advocate - agencies which are obligated to be proactive rather than reactive in the promotion of the human rights of all children (incarcerated or free).

These agencies know that the CRC defines a child to mean every human being below the age of 18 years, unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.

Furthermore, the Convention states unambiguously the following in Article 17:

Every child deprived of liberty shall be treated with humanity and respect for the inherent dignity of the human person and in a manner which takes into account the needs of persons of his or her age.

In particular, every child deprived of liberty shall be separated from adults unless it is considered in the child's best interest not to do so.

It is clear that the placement of young female offenders, who by definition are children, in Fort Augusta, is a clear violation of the State's commitment under the CRC.

From my understanding of the changes that Major Reese needed to make in the Correctional Services, I venture to state categorically that the gentleman understood the need for a gendered analytic approach to the rehabilitation of those whose lives are controlled by the state once they enter the prisons and juvenile facilities in Jamaica. Having said that, I have no information on the gender-appropriate interventions that were taken during Major Reese's tenure.

Policies and practices

Perhaps, now that he is the permanent secretary in the Ministry of National Security, he will have the authority to put in place gender-mainstreaming policies and practices that will result in the transformation of the correctional facilities from punitive, repressive and inhumane punishing centres to rehabilitative, productive and civilised centres where criminals and workers come to grips with the state's prerogative to punish those who commit horrendous crimes while maintaining the essential humanity of those who are incarcerated.

It is such lofty ideals against which President Barack Obama has ordered the closing of the Guantanamo facilities in Cuba.

Obviously, the approaches taken to the rehabilitation of female juveniles and children who are involved in anti-social and criminal behaviours has to be different from those developed to deal with male juveniles.

From the contemporary trends it is becoming clear that the involvement of girls in more violent crimes is increasing even though girls commit far less crime than boys and young men. What is true for the girls in the society is also true of the patterns of adult women involvement in crime. The population of the Fort Augusta Adult Correctional Centre is a small percentage of the population in the male penal facilities in the country.

In order to truly understand and deal with the gender differences in crime, there needs to be more differential study of the violence committed by juvenile girls in the Jamaican society.

Such a database and a deep understanding of the social forces that impact on the development of the girl child is needed at this time.

Included in the questions to be probed would be the following:

The research on criminality during childhood points to the fact that girls tend to become juvenile delinquents when they lose emotional touch with family members. Against this background, it is important for the Jamaican Correctional Services to employ workers who have the intellectual capacity and the critical analytic skills to initiate rehabilitative approaches that will work for girls and others that will meet the needs of boys.

We must continue to stress to the authorities that every child who has committed a crime that results in incarceration should have the right to be housed in a facility that is designed to meet the social, emotional, cognitive and spiritual needs that will lead to the rehabilitation of such a child.

Gender-specific interventions

In particular, female juveniles are entitled to gender-specific interventions and they should not be housed at anytime in an adult facility or in a facility constructed and arranged to give them the opportunity to be able to hoard their faeces, urine and other bodily wastes in their effort to lash out at a society, defend themselves and humiliate those who are employed to protect them.

Angry girls will grow up to be angry women unless the society intervenes in meaningful ways to help them to understand their essential humanity. The ultimate inhumane experience for young people is the intimate relationship with their bodily wastes as missiles because they have no other means of dealing with the horrors of poverty, sexual and physical abuse, neglect and all the other atrocities that have shaped their young lives.

When state institution create 'young pooper scoopers' the society can anticipate the stench of older 'scoopers' in the future.

Glenda Simms is a consultant on gender issues. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com.