NCS maintains juvenile segregation in facility

The Namibian Correctional Service says 10 juveniles are being held inside a correctional facility that also accommodates adults, but insists they remain separated in dedicated units in line with the law.

The correctional service says this includes two sentenced Namibians, five unsentenced Namibians and three unsentenced non-Namibians. All are detained at the Evaristus Shikongo Correctional Facility, which also houses adult inmates.

Assistant commissioner Salmi Hangula says the population of juveniles is too small to warrant a stand-alone facility, but adds that the Correctional Service Act of 2012 requires that minors be kept apart from adults at all times.

She says the facility maintains separate living quarters for juveniles and prevents contact between the two groups. Psychosocial support is available for rehabilitation and reintegration.

Hangula also says the correctional system is operating below capacity.

As of 27 November, the total inmate population stood at 4 616 against a capacity of 5 430 beds.

Her comments follow oversight findings by the National Council’s standing committee on home affairs, security, constitutional and legal affairs.

During inspections conducted between January and March, the committee reported that awaiting-trial juveniles were seen in facilities that also accommodated adult inmates.

The committee noted inconsistencies in how juveniles were separated and highlighted cases where police holding cells were overcrowded or used for extended detention, despite being designed for short-term holding.

The Office of the Ombudsman, which conducts national inspections of police cells and correctional centres twice a year, has previously raised similar concerns.

The office has recorded cases in which juveniles were found in the same detention spaces as adults, especially at the level of police holding cells where infrastructure is limited.

In such situations, officers are instructed to immediately separate the minors or transfer them to another facility that can meet child-protection standards.

The ombudsman’s office has also warned that the detention of children with adults exposes them to risks, including physical harm, emotional trauma and possible exploitation.

The office recently briefed president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah on the ongoing gaps affecting children in conflict with the law, including the lack of uniform facilities designed specifically for juveniles.

Namibia drafted a child justice bill in 2003 to introduce a dedicated legal framework governing how children in conflict with the law should be processed and accommodated.

Although the bill has not been enacted, several elements were later incorporated into the Child Care and Protection Act of 2015.

International agencies, including the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), have previously reported fluctuating numbers of children in detention, with diversion programmes reducing the number of minors held in formal facilities.

Data from Unicef shows that in some years more than 60% of children screened were diverted away from detention.

Questions sent to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare were not responded to by the time of publication.

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