Minister of National Security, Peter Bunting, has announced that as of July 5, 2013, all female juveniles have been removed from the Horizon Adult Remand Centre (HARC). This follows an earlier commitment by the Minister to have a complete separation of juveniles from adults by the end of this year. The Minister received this information from the new Commissioner of Corrections, Jevene Bent, as he joined her at the New Broughton Sunset Adult Correctional Centre, on the final leg of her tour of correctional facilities in St Elizabeth and Manchester.
 
During his Sectoral Debate presentation in June 2013, Minister Bunting committed to having the 5 remaining juveniles in the facility removed, noting that the number of female wards at HARC had been dramatically reduced from 30 in June 2012.
 
Additionally, the number of female juveniles at Fort Augusta has been reduced to 39, down from 44 at the time of the Minister’s presentation in Parliament and down from 74 in the previous year.


Elaborating on today’s announcement Minister Bunting committed that, "No more juveniles will be sent to Horizon going forward, and the overall reduction shows that the diversion policy of this Administration is working to minimize the number of juveniles who end up in correctional facilities.”

In the meantime, contractors have been selected and renovation work is underway at the South Camp Road facility to accommodate the remaining juveniles at Fort Augusta. The Minister said, “We are aiming to relocate the juveniles from Fort Augusta by September 2013.”