The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

FNM Deputy leader Loretta Butler Turner yesterday called for a full investigation into the alleged abuse of a 14-year-old boy at the Simpson Penn Centre.

Mrs Butler-Turner first raised the matter in the House of Assembly last week. At the time, she said that a young resident from Freeport was allegedly beaten by custodial staff members at the facility.

Following the incident, the former Social Services Minister said the boy was put in isolation where he requested medical attention, but was denied help.

Later, Minister of Social Services Melanie Griffin denied that any abuse occurred at Simpson Penn.

“I am not satisfied with the explanation that the Minister gave in the House of Assembly,” said Mrs Butler-Turner. “She denied that it happened, but I am not satisfied with that. I know for a fact that the situation did happen and there must be an investigation as to what happened to that child. He was very badly beaten.

“I stand by my words so either the Minister is unaware or she is participating in a gross cover up of abuse. Mrs Griffin did not address the issue properly and she needs to.”

The incident has also led Mrs Butler-Turner to urge officials to take a look at the operations of both Simpson Penn and the Willamae Pratt Centre for Girls.

“There should be no form of corporal punishment. It just should not be administered to the residents. That is something taboo. If they did do it, it would have been a major infringement of the laws and the rights of those children in terms of how they are treated.

“I say that with a view that even though these children are there to be reformed, the methodologies that they are prescribed are not always followed. And that’s with both centres, the boys and girls,” Mrs Butler-Turner said.

Last October, Mrs Butler Turner conducted a fact finding mission at the Willamae Centre Pratt Centre. During that time, there were claims that suicide attempts among the young women at the facility were on the rise.

Mrs Butler-Turner urged the government to turn its attention from constantly criticising her, and place it on improving the conditions at both facilities.

“There is no surveillance at both centres. While I was at the boys centres a representative from the Royal Bahamas Police Force Technology Department came to look at surveillance, so I know they were scrambling to say that things were in place. It was very clear to me that they had done a lot to make it seem as if things were clean. The grass had been freshly mowed. So they were trying to get things cleaned up – that is my impression,” she said.