Jails make youths tough crims: Court

JUVENILES coming out of prison become the worst criminals because they are hardened and more daring, according to a village court magistrate from Mt Hagen, Western Highlands.
Magistrate Andrew Buldung, from Kei village court in Hagen city, told The National yesterday that sending juveniles, aged between 10 and 18, to prison was not a good way of rehabilitating them.
Buldung said that their minds were still developing and when in jail, they learnt bad things from adult offenders even though they lived in separate jail compounds.
“I see that many young offenders sent to jail come out and commit other big-time crimes. They are no longer afraid of law or going back to jail,” he said.
Buldung said sending juveniles to prison was not a good way to rehabilitate them in the long run.
“For Western Highlands, I call on concerned authorities like the provincial government and Justice Department to build a rehabilitation centre for the juveniles,” he said.
Buldung said young offenders should be rehabilitated separately and away from prison camps.
“We must have fulltime counsellors and church workers present at the centre and change the mindsets of the juveniles to become good citizens.”
Buldung said that in May last year, he presided over a case where two boys aged 10 and 12 had stolen five mature chickens from a man at Pelka village outside Hagen city.
“The chicken cost K25 each and I made a decision and told the two boys to pay K125 to the owner. I wanted to send them to Baisu jail to teach them a good lesson but after seeing others going to jail and comeout, still committing crimes, I told them to find the money and pay the owner,” he said.
He said after two weeks, the two boys found K125 and compensated the owner in his presence.
He said that he told the parents of the two boys not to assist them to pay for the chickens because they would help promote them to steal and next time, they would steal something bigger.
Buldung said that some juveniles committed crime by mistake and it was not necessary to send them to jail.
He said the rehabilitation centre would be a right place where they would be taught what was good and what was bad.