Gov’t To Remove Prison Option For Problem Kids

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Gleaner - The Portia Simpson Miller Cabinet has approved legislative changes that could remove one of the most controversial provisions of the Child Care and Protection Act which allows a judge to incarcerate a child who is deemed to be "beyond control". "This will result in judges no longer having the option of sentencing these children to correctional centres," the youth ministry said in a statement released yesterday. The announcement came shortly after local human rights lobby Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) unleashed another tirade over the failings of the act and the Child Development Agency (CDA), the body charged with the responsibility of enforcing it.