Report on the Visit to the Tichileşti Juvenile and Youth Penitentiary

On December 3^rd, 2003, two representatives of APADOR-CH visited the Juvenile and Youth Penitentiary in Tichileşti, Brăila County.

1. General aspects

Starting November 2002, the Juvenile Re-education Centre in Tichileşti was reassigned into a Juvenile and Youth Penitentiary. The unit hosts juveniles and young detainees from Bucureşti and 20 counties in Moldova, Dobrogea and Muntenia (the other counties use the similar unit in Craiova). At the date of the visit, the Ministry of Justice had yet to issue the order to change the title of the institution.

At the moment of the visit, the penitentiary hosted 198 juveniles and young detainees (91 were 14-16, 85 were 6-18 and 22 of them were 18-19). Most of them were serving terms for: robbery (81), theft (72), rape (31), and manslaughter (11). Of the total number of detainees, 185 had received final sentences, 10 were on preventive arrest and 3 were held for re-education (having cases pending at nearby courts). The representatives of APADOR-CH wanted to know the reasons for which, especially in cases other than manslaughter, the courts decided prison terms for juveniles. It turned out that almost all of them were repeated offenders, against whom Criminal code measures had been taken before, including reprimand, freedom under observation and confinement in a re-education centre.

The penitentiary also had a number of 20 adult detainees, who did the work and were quartered at the farm (GAZ), and whom the juveniles never met.

Overcrowding was not a problem at Tichileşti Penitentiary. The total surface of the living units (dorms) was 1 159 sqm, which ensures the minimum “vital space” of 4 sqm/person for he existing number of detainees.

The total number of staff was 260: 47 in the education, qualification and production department and 108 in security.

The unit had created, under the authority of the governor, a “technical team for crisis management”. During the quarantine period, when detainees were admitted into the penitentiary, the team assessed the educational level and the various needs of the youths. During discussions with the penitentiary repartition committee, the juveniles and young detainees were questioned about their options, including professional training preferences. In “crisis situations”, the staff talked to the detainees involved, special needs were assessed for solving the problem, including the possibility of enrolling the detainees in a special aggression reduction programme – “Redagres”. The technical team also supervised the way the young detainees were prepared for life in freedom. The programme started 10-12 days before release and consisted mainly of counselling with regard to the main institutions which could be helpful for social reinsertion (providing addresses, competences, procedures).

For the following year, the penitentiary planned a major investment: building two new living units (Ground floor +2, with bedrooms for at most four persons, canteens on every floor and infirmaries at the ground floor), the rehabilitation of the sewage system and the forage of a well for drinking water (for the moment, drinking water came from the heating plant nearby, at standard quality). Since 2002, the penitentiary had been connected to the natural gas pipeline and had managed to install a modern heating system.

Ever since the previous visit, a pay phone had been installed for the juveniles, which they were allowed to use twice a week, for 15 minutes each time.

The daily schedule was the following: 6.00 wake up, 6.00-6.30 administrative activities, 7.00-8.00 breakfast, 8.00-13.00 school, 13.30-14.30 lunch, 14.30-19.30 afternoon activities (professional training with instructors in two of the days and educational activities with educators in all the others, including Saturdays and Sundays).

2. The visit to the penitentiary

2.1.The kitchen area

Breakfast had consisted of biscuits, marmalade and tea, lunch, of vegetables and noodle soup and potato gravy with meat. For dinner, the menu included pasta and fat, plus milk.

Detainees ate in the two canteen rooms of the kitchen area (at the moment of the visit, the staff was filling the plates and detainees had not yet arrived at table). The representatives of APADOR-CH noticed that about a third of the second course portions contained very little meat, if any. For that day, 32 kilos of pork and 12 kilos of fat had been taken from the store room. The penitentiary’s GAZ farm provided 80% of the necessary meat, eggs, milk and vegetables. Unlike in 2000, when the association made its previous visit, bread was now brought in on a daily basis and was very fresh. The dishwashing room was clean and all the necessary conditions, including hot running water, were provided.

2.2 The infirmary

The medical staff included 3 doctors (1 GP, 1 psychiatrist and 1 dentist) and seven nurses specialised in general practice. The unit had recently applied to the GDP to create a position for a dentistry assistant.

The doctors provided the necessary assistance, in shifts, between 7.30 and 19.30, while nurses were present on a permanent basis. During each day, doctors gave about 40 consultations and treatments. In 2003, there had been about 90 cases of self-aggression, most of the times following bad news from home (the self-inflicted wounds consisted mostly of superficial slashes on the forearms).

Over the previous 3-4 years, there had been no case in which detainees had marks of violence when brought in by the police. The representatives of the association found out that - unlike in most parts of the country – detainees brought to Tichileşti by the police had both the pulmonary exam (“micro”) and the lues test (VDRL) completed.

The cooperation with Brăila County Hospital was constantly good. A positive fact noted by the representatives of the association was that detainees taken to the County Hospital were not handcuffed, but merely accompanied by two non-commissioned officers.

The dentistry service managed to cover all the needs of the detainees. It only performed tooth extractions and treatments, while the few more complex cases were solved in good conditions by cooperation with the County Hospital.

According to the chief doctor, the only psychic conditions among the juveniles and young detainees in the penitentiary were mild forms of behaviour disorders.

The medical service was properly equipped and provided with materials.

One of the infirmary wards hosted 3 patients (there were 5 beds). Minor C.G. had a furuncle on his knee and was given injections, I.O. had a mild form of pneumonia, and D.-V.F. was injured at the right foot (he had hurt himself, by mistake, with a spade, while working in the garden). The ward was rather chilly (the radiator was cold), which, at least in the case of the juvenile with pneumonia, could not be in any way beneficial for the health. The ward had a W.C with a Turkish seat; the sink was in the room itself.

In ward no. 5, there were 5 juveniles in 5 beds. They suffered from: dental infection (M.G.), staphylococcal infection (M.-G.O.), respiratory infection (M.S.), and scabies (B.U. and S.T.). The patients said they were being well cared for and that they were on their way to recovery. The ward had a WC cabin with a Turkish toilet. The sink had been broken by a patient about two months earlier and had not been fixed since. The juveniles had to place a bucket under the tap in order to wash.

Detainees in the ward had never received newspapers. The daily walk lasted about one, one hour and a half. Talking to detainees in the infirmary, the representatives of the association found out that while in police custody, the juveniles had been photographed and videotaped without their permission, their pictures and names having been broadcasted on TV (B.U. and M.-G.O., during custody with Iaşi Police, and S.T. in Câmpina).

2.2.The living unit

At the moment of the visit, part of the detainees were bathing (because there had been several cases of scabies in the penitentiary, detainees had been allowed to take a bath twice a week – on Wednesdays and Saturdays - for the last two weeks). Had it not been for the bath, detainees would have normally taken part in professional training, under the supervision of instructors.

Room no. 8 had been specially created about two months before for detainees about to be released. It hosted two detainees – C.P. and O.-G.D., both ready to go in five days. They had been moved into the room a week before, as soon as the penitentiary board had approved their parole (the Brăila Court granted parole to practically all detainees which received the approval of the penitentiary board). Living conditions were very good: the room was large; it had eight normal beds with new mattresses and bed linen, a TV set, a wardrobe, a table and chairs. The bathroom was separate, having three sinks with mirrors, 2 shower cabins and 2 WCs. The floor and walls were covered in tiles. Talking to the occupants of the room, the representatives of the association found out that they had followed much the same routine even after being moved in the room. Detainee C.P. had been left by his parents in an orphanage ever since he was a baby. He did not know whether the parents were going to accept him (they had never written or visited while he was in prison). He had recently received a letter from the Galaţi County General Child Protection Directorate, informing him that he could no longer stay at the orphanage (the detainee was 18 and two months). When questioned by the representatives of the association, C.P. did not know that there was such a thing as a Centre for Social Reinsertion by the Galaţi Tribunal (the county where he was going to live), where he could search help to solve his most difficult situation.

Room 14 hosted 15 juveniles in the 6^th grade (with final sentences). The room, with 12 normal beds, was of about 60 sqm (the number of juveniles had been higher than the number of beds for just one day, and a solution was being sought “in the shortest time possible”. Although the room was rather cold (radiators were lukewarm), the juveniles had the windows wide open. The representatives of the association were under the impression that the juveniles (and their supervisors) had found out about the visit and wanted to freshen the air in the room, especially since there were sewage problems in the living area. The room was tidy and the cement floor was covered in rugs brought by juveniles from home. On the day of the visit, school had included mathematics, civic culture, technology, and physical education classes. From the discussions, it resulted that scheduled classes took place with no exception. They were allowed to receive four visits a month, lasting between half an hour and one hour, and to make two phone calls per week. Juveniles had to wear penitentiary uniforms during the visits. Here, too, there were detainees whose names and pictures had been published by the press while in police custody, without their permission (M.-C.A., at the Car Theft Service of the Bucureşti Police, in the summer of 2002 and D.-D.I. at the Galaţi Police). There was a TV set in the room, provided by the penitentiary. Detainees received newspapers only on rare occasions. Minors F.-C.I. and D.-D.I. were hit by the staff, the former in December 2002 and the latter in the spring of 2003. Juvenile C.C. was punished by 5 days of isolation, one of which he was handcuffed, for breaking a window “in a fit of temper”. There was a “room representative” who, according to his own statement, took care that his mates “did not fight and do the chores as planned”. By questioning the detainees, the representatives of APADOR-CH found out that hearings before the parole board were not customary. Detainees had a bath twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The bathroom consisted of two WC cabins with Turkish seats, and a concrete tub with four taps. There was a TV set in the room. The juveniles asked to be able to see other channels than the public television TVR1. They appreciated that food and medical care were good and that the daily programme filled their time in an interesting and useful way.

Room 16 had about 50 sqm and 10 normal beds, being reserved for detainees on preventive arrest (at the moment of the visit, it hosted 5 juveniles). The bathroom included two WC cabins and a concrete tub with two water taps. During the visits – maximum four times a month, between 1 ½ and 2 hours  - the juveniles here were allowed to wear their own clothes, but inside the visiting area they had to wear a gown (“in order not to be mistaken for visitors and escape from prison”, the staff explained). The representatives of the association reminded that, according to European penitentiary norms, people on preventive arrest must be allowed to wear their own clothes on every occasion. Forcing the juveniles to wear a prison gown over their clothes was equivalent to annulling their right. Also against European norms was the practice of forcing juveniles on preventive arrest to go to court hearings in prison uniforms. The mattresses were old and worn out (and full of lice, the minors complained). The bath time was too short, around 3-10 minutes. Juveniles in room 16 also asked that other TV channels be made available, besides TVR1. They never received newspapers, but they were allowed to borrow books from the library. Detainee A.G. had been brought to Tichileşti 5 months earlier, and for the last month he had been suffering of scabies.

Room 12 hosted juveniles from 5^th grade (classes A and B) serving final sentences (10 detainees in 11 normal beds, in a 60 sqm room). Until one week earlier, the room had been used as a quarantine ward for scabies patients (they had been treated and the room and furniture had been disinfected). The representatives of the association found out that sometimes, during searches, the non-commissioned officers used to cut the mattresses, spill out the filling and then ask the juveniles to sew it back in. Besides the fact that such a procedure was an abuse, it was also a health hazard because the filling of the very old mattresses represented a source of scabies. Here too, the juveniles asked that more TV channels were made available. There was a TV set in the room, but newspapers were not provided here, either. Last summer, minor C.-N.C. was punished by 10 days of confinement for breaking a window. In the end, he was “forgiven” after only four days, but for one day and one night he was handcuffed to his bed and set free only during his meals. A similar treatment was applied to two of his mates: D.T. and R.B. The bath time was too short, about 5 minutes. During their period of preventive arrest, juveniles here were not allowed to wear their own clothes during visits or in court.  The bathroom had 2 WC cabins and a concrete tub with four water taps (the stench of urine, apparently coming from the sewage system, was unbearable). The windows were open, the room was cold (the concrete floor was bare). The minors were allowed to make 2 phone calls per week, for about 15 minutes each. All detainees were able to post their mail in the penitentiary mailbox.

The discussion with the school management

The main goal of the penitentiary school - dubbed as “special” school – was for juveniles to complete their studies from the point where they had abandoned them (following arrest or dropout) and to get some professional qualification. Most of the juveniles and young detainees here had 3, 4 or 5 years since they had dropped out of school. On the day of the visit, the school had four elementary school classes, each of them with more than the 12 student norm: with 16-17 students (the total number was about 70). Illiterate juveniles took two years in one. The gymnasium had 65 students (the 5^th and 6^th grades had 2 classes each, the 7^th and 8^th had one class each). Starting on the 5^th grade, school was organized according to the general curricula, without any “intensive” classes. Detainees who had graduated secondary school (8 grades) were doing professional training (for the 1^st  year of professional school there were four classes, with a total of 45 students, training as carpenters, welders, turners, electro-mechanics. Professional school included mainly technology classes, but also Mathematics, Romanian, Physics, Chemistry, Sports, Civic Education, Religion, etc. The choice of profession belonged exclusively to the students.

The discussion with the school management and the visit in one of the school workshops convinced the representative of APADOR-CH that the need to allocate substantially more resources for the endowment of the school, including the technology workshops, had to be strongly reiterated.

Resources for the school are at least as important as those for food, clothes and housing. If school does not substantially improve the education and professional training of juveniles who were brought to prison by the very lack of education and training, then this punishment will be totally unable to prevent their coming back behind bars. The years spent in jail, a loss in the life of each juvenile, could be transformed into useful years for their future destiny only if the penitentiary school fulfils its mission. That is why appropriate resources for schooling are as important as those for feeding, housing or medical care. In that respect, it is necessary that the penitentiary system administrators at all levels – from the unit level, to the Ministry of Justice – pay due attention to this matter. Both budgetary and extra-budgetary resources must be taken into account and generously provided in order to support the education and qualification process.

At the request of the penitentiary, the Brăila County Labour Agency (AJOFM) provided a study issued last summer, stating that the most sought for qualifications in the county were textile worker, mason and house painter. The trades taught in Tichileşti penitentiary were also in demand, but not among the most rated, which shows that the unit needs to be able to organize professional training according to the needs and tendencies of the labour market. For the administrators of the penitentiary system, the AJOFM study should represent an overwhelming argument in favour of an appropriate funding for the training and schooling of juveniles, in order to prepare them for the labour market demands.

The school management remarked that, because some of the juveniles spent a very short period of time in the penitentiary, depending of the court sentence, professional school (which is only for gymnasium graduates) should be replaced by “training/qualification courses”. On the day of the visit, a three months training course for cooks, organized by the penitentiary in cooperation with the AJOFM, was on. The course was attended by 9 juveniles and young detainees (who were going to receive their qualification papers from the AJOFM). A one year “professional” course for plumbers and locksmiths (for those who had gone at least through elementary school) was also on. Unfortunately, the fate of this course had become uncertain, because it had not been established who was going to issue the certificates and what they were going to contain.

The school needed another 10 education instructors, besides the existing staff, as well as four more social assistants (there was only one), 3 elementary school teachers and 1 sports teacher. One of the problems noticed by the representatives of APADOR-CH was that, when the number of detainees decreased, certain teaching positions were made redundant, while when they increased, the school was always understaffed. The association suggested that, in such cases, there should be no redundancies among the teaching staff, since there were none among the other staff – operational, logistics, financial, medical, human resources, etc. Thus, the educators who accepted to work in a school such as the one in Tichileşti could benefit from the same stability as their colleagues outside the penitentiary system enjoyed most of the time. The variable number of detainees brought about not only reductions of the teaching duties, but also, as was the case at the moment of the visit, periods of exceeding duties (which imply a voluntary effort from the part of the teachers). On the day of the visit, the education, qualification and production department had: 12 teachers, 3 elementary school teachers, 11 professional trainers, 1 psychologist, 1 social assistant, 1 librarian, 1 priest and 15 education instructors.

The penitentiary worked with the Social Reinsertion and Observation Service (SRSS) by the Brăila Tribunal, especially when released juveniles needed support to find a place in society. The penitentiary had sent a group of minors awaiting release to visit the SRSS Brăila and other institutions involved in the social reinsertion of former detainees (AJOFM, the City Hall, the Child Protection Direction, Foundations “Lumina” and “Louis Pasteur”, etc). In the case of juveniles who went to other counties, but faced similar problems, the penitentiary asked the SRSS to facilitate their contacts with similar Services there, or with other organisations (governmental or non-governmental) which were able to provide assistance. The penitentiary also co-operated with the SRSS whenever the latter had to provide the courts with pre-sentence or assessment reports.

The juveniles had also been taken to the Tichileşti church (a group every week), to plant trees at the Lacul Sărat Greenhouses and at the History Museum in Brăila (the money earned by the detainees for tree-planting were used by the penitentiary to buy game balls and other sporting equipment).

On the day of the visit, the parishes around the penitentiary were preparing gifts for Saint Nicholas Day, and a textile factory offered each detainee a shirt.

At the occupational therapy workshop, several juveniles had made dolls for the orphans at the Children Home in Brăila. The room also exhibited many artefacts, paintings and flower arrangements made by the minors.

At the electro-mechanic shop, a training course for 9 detainees was going on. The main problem raised by the chief instructor was the lack of equipment (measuring instruments, digital multimeters, 2kAV transformers, soldering guns, power cables). Other workshops also needed drills, saws, chisels, planes, fretsaws, etc.

3. Conclusions

Compared with the findings of the previous visit (April 2000), APADOR-CH appreciates a certain improvement of the situation in Tichileşti Penitentiary. One explanation for this is that detainees are fewer and more homogeneous (around 200 juveniles and young detainees sentenced to prison terms) as compared with the 500 persons two years ago, among which 220 adults. Another explanation is the greater preoccupation of the unit and school management for the life and education conditions of the minors. The association salutes this preoccupation.

From the discussions with the juveniles, it turned out that they were generally satisfied with the conditions and the behaviour of the staff.

It is a positive fact that juveniles who receive cigarettes from home are allowed to smoke. Because Order 3131/2003 of the Ministry of Justice provides the legal grounds for this, we suggest that the DGP should also recommend this practice to Juvenile Re-education Centre in Găeşti, where the representatives of the association have noted that juveniles are not allowed to smoke (which creates permanent discontent among them);

APADOR-CH considers that, if all the expected investments are finalized next year, the unit will make an important step in improving living conditions in the penitentiary.

However, APADOR-CH deems that there still other deficiencies, the solving of which should be placed on the agenda of the penitentiary management:

- The beating of detainees by staff members, although by no means a general practice, is unacceptable. The management of the penitentiary must act with maximum severity in order to punish such abuse; the measure of confinement should be used as a punishment in exceptional cases, and by no means when a juvenile has broken a window; while appreciating the fact that juvenile patients are not handcuffed during their stay in civilian hospitals, the association cannot but disagree in the most categorical terms with cases when the juveniles are handcuffed to their beds (even for a day and a night); because the representatives of  the association sensed that the juveniles who talked to them were afraid of repercussions, APADOR-CH asks the management of the unit to prevent any possible consequences of their confessions;

- The fact that during 2003 there have been about 90 cases of self-aggression indicates, among other things, certain deficiencies in the work of counsellors and educators;

- The logistics and medical departments should have taken steps to prevent the numerous cases of scabies; the poor state of the mattresses and the fact that many of the rooms had unhygienic conditions are mainly the responsibility of the logistic and medical service; the practice of cutting open mattresses during searches must be forbidden;

- It is necessary that the managers of the unit pay more attention to the quality of food (many of the second course servings contained very little or no meat at all);

- Until next year’s investments, it is necessary to find temporary solutions to heat the juveniles’ rooms and to eliminate the stench coming from the sewage;

- It is necessary that the penitentiary treats understandingly the request of the juveniles to be able to watch other channels than the public TV programme (the management of the penitentiary promised to solve this problem as soon as possible);

- The idea of a special programme for detainees about to be released is excellent, but the programme needs to be more concrete, more applied and more useful for the juveniles, especially when they are in dire situations like C.P.;

- Juveniles who have not been given final sentences must have the right to wear their own clothes in all circumstances; the association asks again the DGP to carefully assess the idea of allowing all juveniles to wear their own clothes during visits;

- The juveniles must be provided with newspapers on a daily basis.

APADOR-CH suggests to the DGP:

- To give full support to the Tichileşti Penitentiary for: finalizing the investment plan for next year; occupying the vacant teaching positions and improving the school’s endowment; harmonizing professional training within the penitentiary with the labour market demands (chapter 3 of this Report); providing 20 new TV sets; ensuring a minimum of equipment for internet connection;

- To analyse the possibility of making hearings before the parole board compulsory (at least in the case of detainees whose application is about to be rejected);

- To initiate actions by the Ministry of Justice and Interior Ministry, in order to make sure that the pictures, videos and names of minors in police custody are not made public, especially by the media (such practice is against the regulations of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (“The Beijing Rules”).

 

Diana-Olivia Călinescu                                                              Valerian Stan