DOC unveils new Juvenile Detention Unit

After over 12 years without one, the Department of Corrections officially unveiled the CNMI’s new Juvenile Detention Unit yesterday.

DOC Commissioner Anthony Torres officially unveiled during a special ceremony the CNMI’s new JDU, or the Manhoben Center, in Susupe

“This is the soft opening for the Manhoben Center or the Juvenile Detention Unit. The Manhoben Center was originally the old CNMI prison (before DOC was included in the consent decree which later established the new prison). When the new prison was constructed, the Manhoben Center became the office for the Department of Public Safety’s Criminal Investigations Bureau. When I first came into this role, one of the top priorities on my list was to find a new place for our juveniles as they have been housed in one of DOC’s units for over 12 years. It took us some time to get here, it could have been a lot sooner but nonetheless we’re here and I’m so proud and thankful for my outreach participants and the staff who got together to make this a reality. This was an ‘all-hands-on-deck’ project,” he said.

Torres shared that the new JDU can house over 30 juveniles and is equipped with amenities like a kitchen and laundry room.

“There is an intake room, a laundry room, a kitchen, and male and female sections. The male’s side has about 16 rooms while female side has over 14 rooms so the males’ section is a little larger than the females’ side,” said Torres.

Torres shared that it’s important to have a JDU in operation as there are laws and protocols that need to be adhered to when dealing with juvenile inmates.

“We were adhering to sight-and-sound laws which meant that if there are any juvenile movements, the whole DOC must shut down. Every now and then, we’ll have three to four juveniles come in at DOC. Thankfully numbers are low. But at the end of the day, we need a dedicated facility. So, we were on the hunt, looking for possible areas and we came to the conclusion that this is the best area as its right here, next to DOC. I apologize to CIB and very grateful that they cooperated with us,” he said.

Torres added that DOC wanted to get the new JDU up and running as soon as possible as DOC has many ongoing projects at the adult facility.

“Having a facility dedicated to the JDU would free up space in the adult facility and not only that, we will be able to establish the Residential Substance Abuse Treatment or RSAT program. We’re doing all this in stages so to have the JDU, we’re really excited to be here and getting it to where it’s at now,” he said.

Currently, DOC has no new juvenile inmates. Torres adds that it will be about another two weeks before the new JDU can house any juvenile inmates.

“Right now, we don’t have any juvenile inmates but sometimes that fluctuates. Sometimes we’ll have one, sometimes we’ll have four, sometimes we’ll have six. The facility is ready but it’s not 100% ready. In case we have juveniles come in in the next week or so, we will still be housing them at the DOC. But we’re about 97% completed. It’s just a matter of getting the furniture in and getting Division of Youth Service here to see what programs can be implemented,” he said.

Torres noted that non-profit agencies are currently looking into working with DOC to help provide programs for juvenile inmates.

“Other non-profit organizations are also reaching out to DOC to provide programs for JDU inmates like the Talaya Club, and more. That’s forthcoming,” he said.