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Oct. transfer of detainees to DYS building eyed
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Posted on Sep 02 2004
Immigration detainees could start moving into the juvenile detention facility in Kagman by Oct. 11.
Division of Youth Services director Victor Mesta said preparations are on schedule for the transfer of immigration detainees to the youth facility.
DYS and Division of Immigration personnel are undergoing training on detention policies and procedures. Meanwhile, officials of both agencies are working out issues such as the fencing requirement and the schedule of both groups of detainees that will be housed in the same facility.
He said a fence needs to be constructed between the two buildings at the DYS compound to ensure a sight-and-sound barrier between the youth and immigration detainee populations.
The Attorney General’s Office earlier said the fence would create separate access paths to the multi-purpose space inside the compound, where the detainees could have recreation and other activities.
Schedules are also being arranged to ensure that both groups would not be outside the building at the same time.
“The security of the kids is our No. 1 priority,” Mesta said.
The U.S. Department of Justice has approved the use of the juvenile detention facility in Kagman to temporarily house immigration detainees pending the completion of the adult prison project in Susupe.
The facility consists of two buildings, each of which has a capacity of 20 detainees. The youth offender population in the facility, however has remained low in one building, while the other has been totally unutilized.
Only two juveniles were detained at the facility as of last week, Mesta said.
For this reason, the AGO sought to use one of the buildings, which has zero population, to temporarily house immigration detainees. Constructed only recently, the DYS facility has better living conditions than the immigration detention facility in As Perdido.
