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Dodds Accused of Failing ‘Deviants’

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The blogmaster congratulates Voice of Barbados for keeping the issue of a dysfunctional Government Industrial School (GIS) in the public eye. Barbadians are known for having short memories. The outrage expressed by callers and panelists on the ‘Return to Dodds‘ show hosted by veteran journalist David Ellis is merited although it maybe a case of appeasement for the sake of satisfying good conscience. The injustices meted out to residents of GIS and before the name change has been bandied about in the public domain for decades. Then again the residents of GIS are from the bottom socioeconomic bracket, NTSH.

What is happening at the GIS is reflective of a decadence and lackadaisical way to addressing problems prevalent in society- outdated laws, redundant systems and most of all a lack of leadership. It exposes the inability of our people to efficiently manage our affairs given a significant investment in formal education post-independence.

Where is the conscience of a people who for decades look the other way when young people suffering from behavioural challenges are treated inhumanely at Dodds?

Listen for yourself.

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224 responses to “Dodds Accused of Failing ‘Deviants’”

  1. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    TLSN…saw a video on instagram, still no confirmation but people were lined up and said it was outside of a bank in St. Lucia, and that the ATMs and bank had no money..

    re your comment…these beasts are still trying to push Black Afrikan people back 50 years or more to feed their evil sellout egos…what they did not realize is, those they are hellbent on entrapping into bondage and slavery, know more about what is going on around them, than they do….the plot backfired…

  2. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    David,

    Just so you throw in the “prostitution” bit?????

    Man, read what Baje said!

    Do you understand at all the ravages of child sexual abuse and the vulnerability of the victims to adult predators who pretend to offer them a safe haven?

    If you listen to the Brasstacks programme you posted, you will hear Ms. Bombast remark that the parents are carrying on about their concern for their children at the GIS but most of the time the children CANNOT BE RETURNED TO THE SAME PARENTS’ CARE.

    NOW…. why do you think that is?

  3. David Avatar
    David

    Court wants proof
    Legal battle begins for GIS girls who escaped
    by MARIA BRADSHAW mariabradshaw@nationnews.com
    THE TWO GIRLS who absconded from the Government Industrial School (GIS) for nine days will have to remain at that institution for the time being, despite an attempt to have them housed elsewhere.
    Yesterday, in an emergency hearing conducted via Zoom, High Court Justice Barbara Cooke-Alleyne did not accede to the request of attorney Anya Lorde to have the girls removed from the reform school and placed in another institution.
    The girls surrendered to police on Tuesday evening and were immediately returned to the Barrows, St Lucy institution.
    Wants proof
    Marsha Hinds-Layne of Operation Safe Space told the
    DAILY NATION the matter was adjourned until next week “so that the attorney could present proof that the court had jurisdiction to overturn an order made by a magistrate because the girls are at GIS by the order of a Magistrate”.
    A disappointed Hinds-Layne stated: “We were not successful. The [court] wants proof by cases that it has jurisdiction to overturn the order of a magistrate court in a case where a child’s safety is called into question.”
    Hinds-Layne, a former GIS board member who now resides in Canada said they brought the emergency hearing seeking to have the two girls, Sadera Laneil Nicholls, 13, and
    15-year-old Tianna Shanika Worrell “re-housed” amidst abuse allegations.
    “We went to court to have the court rehouse the girls. Our thing is that there are accusations of abuse and natural justice and the child’s best interest would be to find somewhere else to house the children until we could bring the full legal case that we are trying to bring.”
    Asked where the girls would be placed Hinds-Layne said: “There are a number of other Government institutions. If the Child Care Board in Barbados cannot house a child that is being abused in an institution why do we think that they can house one that is being abused in a residence?”
    Wants proof
    She further lamented that for the time being the two girls would be in solitary confinement in cells at the GIS adding that up until yesterday officials were also still pursuing having the girls undergo a mandatory physical examination even though the parents had objected.
    The two girls have been institutionalised at GIS on charges of wandering and one of them has been sentenced to three years.
    They successfully escaped from the Barrows, St Lucy institution on April 16, two weeks after a first attempt failed.
    Minister of Home Affairs Wilfred Abrahams had indicated at a press conference that after an investigation they found no evidence of abuse at the school.

    Source: Nation

  4. David Avatar
    David

    @Donna

    Children are sent to GIS for different reasons, whether we like it or not some are for criminal acts.

  5. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    @Donna

    Children are sent to GIS for different reasons, whether we like it or not some are for criminal acts.

    Xxxxxxxx

    O YES.

    THROW THEM AWAY LIKE A DIRTY RAG AND TAKE ADVANTAGE AND ABUSE THEM BEHIND DOORS WHERE THEY ARE POWERLESS INCLUDING SOLITARY CONFINEMENT.

    SOME ARGUE THAT THE 2 X 3 ISLAND IS A PARADISE.

    IT IS FOR THOSE WILLING TO LOOK THE OTHER WAY.

  6. David Avatar
    David

    Are you illiterate?

    How many comments have been posted by the blogmaster indicating GIS is obviously not fit for purpose based on its inability to cater to children in need of different support structures at the school?

  7. David Avatar
    David

    Parenting programme needed – Parenting programme needed:

    https://barbadostoday.bb/2022/04/28/parenting-programme-needed/

  8. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    Are you illiterate?

    How many comments have been posted by the blogmaster indicating GIS is obviously not fit for purpose based on its inability to cater to children in need of different support structures at the school?

    Xxxxxxxxxx

    BY YOUR 2 X 3 STANDARDS I AM.

    ASTRONAUT, ILLITERATE ANY MORE PUT DOWNS?

  9. Dame+Bajans Avatar
    Dame+Bajans

    Why do they put the children in solitary confinement and in cells? That is like a prison not a reform school. The children may be delinquent but not criminals. Barbados should get some of its foreign staff to check out reform schools where they are posted and make necessary changes. Putting children that young in cells in solitary is psychologically damaging. Much worse than wandering.

  10. David Avatar
    David

    @Dame

    If you listen to the recording there are many reasons, residents thought to be suicidal is one example.

  11. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    David,

    You are so far off base that I fear you cannot be retrieved.

    These girls were found to be wandering. If as you say, wandering is often a euphemism for prostituting, then….when last have we incarcerated an adult for prostitution?

    These laws need updating. Criminality should necessitate a victim other than one’s self.

    These girls need help not “SENTENCING” (to borrow a word from the insensititive news media).

  12. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Oh, and solitary confinement in a depressing cell helps to dispel notions of suicide in what way exactly?

    The solution is constant surveillance!

  13. David Avatar
    David

    @Donna

    The comment was a general one. The challenge discussing some issues on the blog is that we are unable to be dispassionate. On the recording posted those in the know confirm GIS is not equipped to manage the different challenges presented at the school.

  14. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    On the recording posted those in the know confirm GIS is not equipped to manage the different challenges presented at the school.

    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    THOSE ON THE KNOW WAS FIRED/LET GO ON THE MANAGEMENT BOARD AND LEFT THE 2 x 3 ISLAND FRUSTRATED BECAUSE OF A COVERUP.

    SO MUCH SO THEY MOVED TO CANADA AND FORMED AN ORGANISATION IN CONJUNCTION WITH LAWYERS TO EXPOSE THE SORDID COVERUP MESS AND RAMPANT ABUSE.

    SOME PEOPLE DELIBERATELY CHOOSE TO LIVE IN THEIR OWN REALITY.

    I WONDER WHO IS THE REAL ILLITERATE.

  15. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    David,

    I am always logical even when “not dispassionate”.

    And I make no apologies for being passionate about our children.

    Perhaps you need to stop dropping “general” cryptic comments here and be a tad more verbose because though you have acknowledged that the treatment of our “deviants” is failing, your recent posts suggest that you don’t seem to understand how badly it is failing and the URGENT need to correct.

    We don’t need to hear the old narratives of officialdom. We need to write a new chapter for our children – one that offers them hope.

    We don’t need to hear about wandering often being a euphemism for prostituting as an excuse for locking children up.

    We also don’t need to be reminded that some are sent there for criminal acts. I spoke already to Marsha Hinds Layne’s call for separate facilities for the two groups – those whose tendency is to harm others through crime and those who are simply in need of a safe haven from abuse.

    And we DEFINITELY don’t need to be reminded that children are imprisoned in solutary confinement because of the fear of their being suicidal!

    Sounds as though you are excusing this practice on the grounds of insufficient or inadequate resources.

    I say again, “A stitch in time saves nine.” We will pay to prevent deepening of these young people’s traumas now or we will pay NINEFOLD for their issues later.

    Trauma, as we know, is passed on from generation to generation unless we break the cycle with positive action.

    It is less costly in the long run to spend the money on treating juveniles with issues before they pass them on to their offspring.

    We need to do it YESTERDAY!

  16. David Avatar
    David

    Call for PM to step in GIS issue
    By Maria Bradshaw
    mariabradshaw@nationnews.com

    Three of the seven girls at the Government Industrial School (GIS) are now at the Psychiatric Hospital under suicide watch, while another has been taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
    This was revealed by Marsha Hinds-Layne of Operation Safe Space, the organisation which surrendered two girls, who had absconded the school, to police three days ago.
    She told the Saturday Sun yesterday that she was calling for an intervention from Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, adding she had not heard her speak on the troubling situation.
    When contacted, Minister of Home Affairs Wilfred Abrahams, under whose ministry the GIS falls, said he would not be discussing the girls’ medical treatment.
    “It would be exceedingly inappropriate for me to discuss the medical circumstances of any wards,” he said.
    Hinds-Layne, who has vowed to use every legal instrument both in Barbados and internationally to agitate for changes at the reform school, said two of the girls had also harmed themselves.
    “There is a roll of seven girls at the school and right now four are at the Psychiatric Hospital. So you have seven children on a roll and four are at the Psychiatric Hospital two weeks after an investigation. All are on suicide watch – all of them were sent there after suiciderelated behaviour.
    “One ingested a substance this morning; one tried to cut her wrist yesterday and the two others were voicing of wanting to harm themselves. This
    has occurred two weeks after the minister (Abrahams) releases a report to the public where he says . . . the investigation revealed nothing.”
    ‘Enough is enough’
    Hinds-Layne, a former board member of the GIS who now resides in Canada, said she was “hoping and praying that common sense prevails and that at some point either the nation of Barbados or the leadership of Barbados says enough is enough; something has to be wrong”.
    She added: “The Prime Minister has to speak. She is our first female Prime Minister. She goes across the world touting herself as a progressive female leader and I really would like to hear her thoughts and views on the Government Industrial School because she has not given us the benefit of them in all this time.
    “I don’t only want to hear her on the issue of climate change or when she’s talking to [journalist] Christine Amanpour . . . but I also want to hear her position on the treatment of girls in conflict with the law and in need of care in Barbados. I want to hear how she could use her country as a model to the world of how to decolonise legislation, especially after Barbados has become a republic.
    “This is what we expect of her. The republic must be seen to be done. It is not enough to pronounce it. It must be operationalised and so her silence is deafening,” she declared.
    A family member of one of the girls at the Barrows, St Lucy institution confirmed that she received a telephone call from an official at GIS informing her that the girl had been taken to the Psychiatric Hospital and that she was under suicide watch.

    Child Care Board director RoseAnn Richards says the agency is not in a position to assist the two girls who escaped from the Government Industrial School (GIS) on April 16.
    “The Child Care Board has been established by Government to provide care and protection that are so needed . . . . With those children who are in Government Industrial School, they fall under a different ministry and if there was a situation whereby they were to be placed in our care, we would have intervened. In some instances, some children who go into the care of the Government Industrial School, some of them would have passed through our system.
    “In this particular situation, with the children at the Government Industrial School, the Child Care Board was called upon but, obviously, when children are in the court system and the court makes orders, we have to comply with the orders so we wouldn’t intervene when the court makes an order,” Richards said yesterday following a media briefing to launch Child Month, which is internationally recognised in May.
    “If they came to us before, we open our arms, we provide all the care that we could to them; we also intervene and work with the families, but at this stage [they are] not in our care right now. [They are] under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Home Affairs and [the ministry is] dealing with it.”
    Sadera Laneil Nicholls, 13, and 15-year-old Tianna Shanika Worrell absconded the girls’ division of the GIS at Barrows, St Lucy. Last Tuesday the girls, accompanied by
    their parents and attorney Anya Lorde, turned themselves in.
    The day after the escape, Minister of Home Affairs Wilfred Abrahams said the matter was being investigated.
    He added: “While all protocols and procedures at the facility are being reviewed as a result of the incident, in the interim very specific measures have been implemented to secure that facility and ensure that all remaining residents are safe and comfortable.”
    However, on Tuesday, founder of Operation Safe Space, Marsha Hinds-Layne, said the girls shared similar stories that other girls alleged as recently as last year. She said every effort was being made from her end and the attorney to make sure the girls were not returned to the GIS. ( SB)


    Source: Nation

  17. David Avatar
    David

    Another ‘wanderer”.

    Mum wants teen to come home

    Daughter missing almost two weeks
    By Maria Bradshaw
    mariabradshaw@nationnews.com

    The mother of a 14-year-old girl who has been missing for close to two weeks is appealing to anyone who knows of her whereabouts to contact her or the police.
    Kristle Cole is also calling on her daughter Jade Cole to come home.
    “The police have been checking. The police have been in contact with me daily trying to figure out different leads,” she told the Saturday Sun as she expressed fears about the girl’s safety and state of mind.
    Police issued a missing person’s report on Jade, who lives with her mother at Wanstead Gardens, St James, and who left home around 4:20 p.m. on April 17, Easter Sunday.
    Cole said this was not the first time her daughter had left home, pointing out that Jade was a “troubled teenager” who would sometimes wander. However, she lamented that this was the longest time she had stayed away.
    “It was Easter Sunday so on that day I was cooking and she was keeping me company. We were playing music and dancing; it was just a really fun morning.”
    Cole said later that day she left home to go to a village shop to purchase bread and that was when Jade also left home.
    “While I was at the shop, her younger sister called and said Jade just went through the door. I left there immediately and came straight back home but Jade was nowhere to be found.”
    She said since then she had seen Jade once on her Instagram account.
    “I saw her and I messaged her and called her but she didn’t reply. I haven’t seen her online since and the last seen status has been turned off.”
    The mother of two said Jade suffered with depression, low self-esteem and was being treated at the Psychiatric Hospital.
    “I am baffled. This is the longest time she has ever gone missing. I have seen a lot of stuff circulating saying she run away from the Government Industrial School but she has never been to GIS. It has always been an effort of trying to get her help as opposed to sending her to a place where we feel she would just get lost in the system. I think that would cause more harm than good.”
    Became distant
    Cole said her daughter’s depression started after her grandfather, who was the father figure in her life, passed away.
    “That was when she became very distant,” she added.
    With each passing day, the single mother revealed, she goes through mixed emotions and thoughts, some of which make her afraid and uneasy.
    “I have a lot of fears as a mother, to be honest. I try not to verbalise them as much because you know what they say when you speak of things, it can turn into manifesting outcomes. But I know because she is so kind of lost, my biggest concern right now is I don’t know where she is; I don’t know who she is with; I don’t know how she is being treated.
    “I don’t even want to think of her being taken advantage of. I don’t want to think of her being ill-treated. I don’t want to think those thoughts,” she cried.
    Cole said knowing her daughter’s issues, she had tried to be a supporting and loving mother.
    “I see my daughter with low self-esteem and I try to build her up, but it seems no matter what I do, what I tell her, it doesn’t help . . . .”
    However, despite the internal troubles affecting Jade, she described her as “really intelligent and a creative artist”.
    Police described Jade as five feet, six inches tall, full-figured and light brown in complexion and she has a tattoo on the left wrist of a heart with the letter ‘L’ inside the heart, and her right inner forearm has scarred lines throughout its length.
    At the time of her disappearance, Jade was wearing a black jacket, black long jogger pants with silver stripes at the sides and carrying a black bag on her back bearing a red logo.

    Source: Nation

  18. David Avatar
    David

    Child Care Board unable to help GIS girls

    Child Care Board director RoseAnn Richards says the agency is not in a position to assist the two girls who escaped from the Government Industrial School (GIS) on April 16.
    “The Child Care Board has been established by Government to provide care and protection that are so needed . . . . With those children who are in Government Industrial School, they fall under a different ministry and if there was a situation whereby they were to be placed in our care, we would have intervened. In some instances, some children who go into the care of the Government Industrial School, some of them would have passed through our system.
    “In this particular situation, with the children at the Government Industrial School, the Child Care Board was called upon but, obviously, when children are in the court system and the court makes orders, we have to comply with the orders so we wouldn’t intervene when the court makes an order,” Richards said yesterday following a media briefing to launch Child Month, which is internationally recognised in May.
    “If they came to us before, we open our arms, we provide all the care that we could to them; we also intervene and work with the families, but at this stage [they are] not in our care right now. [They are] under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Home Affairs and [the ministry is] dealing with it.”
    Sadera Laneil Nicholls, 13, and 15-year-old Tianna Shanika Worrell absconded the girls’ division of the GIS at Barrows, St Lucy. Last Tuesday the girls, accompanied by
    their parents and attorney Anya Lorde, turned themselves in.
    The day after the escape, Minister of Home Affairs Wilfred Abrahams said the matter was being investigated.
    He added: “While all protocols and procedures at the facility are being reviewed as a result of the incident, in the interim very specific measures have been implemented to secure that facility and ensure that all remaining residents are safe and comfortable.”
    However, on Tuesday, founder of Operation Safe Space, Marsha Hinds-Layne, said the girls shared similar stories that other girls alleged as recently as last year. She said every effort was being made from her end and the attorney to make sure the girls were not returned to the GIS. ( SB)

    Source: Nation

  19. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    It may have been propaganda, but I seem to recall that one of the strategies of the leadership of the old Soviet Union was to destroy the character of its political opponents by putting them ‘under psychiatric care’. Declare them mad.

    Some of these young ‘deviants’ are now under psychiatric care.

    I may be taking 1+1 and making it five, but when I look at the government statements/action on some issues I see a hard working propaganda machine.

  20. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    Thar’s an old weapon they use, also against adults, that’s why 2 men got “forgotten” at the psychiatric hospital for about 40 years…..it’s the wickedness in the negro who has a little power over each other..

    .notice we never heard anything about the outcome of violating those two men rights who were never charged for anything within the prison system…you are dealing with evil people, so imagine what they do to vulnerable, confused children..

  21. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    If the GIS has the safety and protection in their hands
    How is it possible for two girls to get off the premises undetected
    Next Mia is unusually quite on this issue unlike all the other issues she has step forward to engage with the public concern

  22. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    “I don’t only want to hear her on the issue of climate change or when she’s talking to [journalist] Christine Amanpour . . . but I also want to hear her position on the treatment of girls in conflict with the law and in need of care in Barbados. I want to hear how she could use her country as a model to the world of how to decolonise legislation, especially after Barbados has become a republic.
    “This is what we expect of her. The republic must be seen to be done. It is not enough to pronounce it. It must be operationalised and so her silence is deafening,” she declared.

    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    WHY WOULD SHE?

    HASN’T SHE BEEN ALLEGED TO BE AN ABUSER OF FEMALES HERSELF.

    WE REALLY DON’T LIKE TO LOOK IN THE MIRROR.

    THE WHITE SLAVE MASTER HAS BEEN REPLACED BY THE BLACK SLAVE MASTER.

    THE EMPRESS HAS ON NO CLOTHES.

    BLACK PEOPLE ON THE 2 x 3 ISLAND MUST STOP BURYING THEIR HEADS IN THE SAND, SPEAK THE TRUTH AND CALL A SPADE A SPADE.

  23. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    Just heard the Minister in a news PR conference saying He will get to the bottom of the GIS problem
    Did he not say the same thing a few months ago about the same problem
    Only to rubber stamp the report and handed to the people in a robust declaration of saying all was well
    Until the well drop.out the bottom and two girls hit the road making the minister and report looking like a foolish bunch of keystone cops
    The GIS system maybe in need of psychological care cause the damage to the children and their security begs the question if the board is made up of people who are mentally challenged

  24. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    However taking note of Mia silence on the GIS issue might not be a good sign for the Minister which sends a message that his head might be on the chopping block if he does not get this problem resolved
    The minister has found himself embroiled in a child abuse human rights issue and many have been asking for his resignation
    The situation needs truthful answers and quick resolution
    The govt of the day cannot advocate a message that barbadians must be sensitive to the human rights of others but when issues that are at the heart of human rights and child abuse
    Leadership is missing

  25. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    The situation needs truthful answers and quick resolution
    The govt of the day cannot advocate a message that barbadians must be sensitive to the human rights of others but when issues that are at the heart of human rights and child abuse
    Leadership is missing

    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    MIA ‘CARES’

  26. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    Mia SCARES
    Woman gets on international stage and tells world leaders how to act and behave towards small island nations in times of crisis
    Now a crisis of human rights violations hit her in the faces
    Not a peeping sound

  27. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    HAS REALITY HIT THE 2 x 3 ISLAND?

    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    Full departmental inquiry into operations at the GIS

    A panel has been appointed to conduct a full departmental inquiry into operations at the Government Industrial School (GIS), Minister of Home Affairs and Information, Wilfred Abrahams announced Saturday.

    The GIS Departmental Inquiry panel includes former Deputy Police Commissioner Oral Williams (Chair), educator Tessa Chadderton-Shaw and former Principal of Queen’s College Coreen Kennedy-Taitt, with the investigation slated to run for six weeks.

    “I’ve decided to have a departmental inquiry into the operations at the Government Industrial Schools. A full departmental inquiry to address all of the issues that we know are on the table, to address the policies and practices at school, to address things like the curriculum, to address extracurricular activities, to address mentorship, to address all of the things that touch and concern these young ladies,” he said.

    “This is not one of those investigations that go into perpetuity, there is a fixed time for dealing with this. This has to be given the priority and all of the resources that Government can put at this point in time to get to the bottom, in particular of the most recent allegations.”

    Addressing the recent public outcry surrounding the incident where two teenage girls escaped from the St. Lucy reform school, Abrahams said that though much of the information circulating throughout the media and social spaces have not been accurate, the overall state at the facilities was a troubling one.

    “The recent situation concerning the absconding of the young ladies from Barrows in St. Lucy has thrown up a lot of issues that bear immediate investigation and attention. Our initial investigation, surface investigations, into what informed or what may have caused the young ladies to take the approach that they took and even certain policies and procedures at the school have yielded some serious concerns for us that we cannot possibly ignore,” he said.

    Abrahams also revealed that a secondary inquiry will also be conducted into the operations at the Dodd’s Prison, with Philip Pilgrim, Q.C., chairing the committee that will include former Youth Commissioner Dr. Lisa Jaggernauth and Senior Lecturer at UWI Cave Hill Dr. Akhentoolove Corbin.

    Members of the public who currently have insight and information concerning operations at the facilities are being asked to share all relevant information with the committee. A telephone number and email address will be set up shortly for citizens to use.

    In voicing his concern on the current GIS situation, Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs, Kirk Humphrey said that though legislation is currently in the works to address a number of areas in the coming months, including child justice and laws governing the family, an immediate intervention was needed, given the outdated nature of procedures still seen in the youth facilities.

    “In my opinion there is only one priority… the single priority is the wellbeing of the children that are involved in this situation. The question that I think that we have to ask and answer is what is in the best interest of these children,” he said.

    “When we ask that question it will force us to look at the policies, the programmes, the legislation, the system, to take a step back and look at the overall procedures because at the end of the day we must do what we have to do to say that we have done all that we can do to be able to protect the children.”

    https://barbadostoday.bb/2022/04/30/full-departmental-inquiry-into-operations-at-the-gis/

  28. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    What is the real story?
    https://barbadostoday.bb/2022/04/15/investigations-find-no-evidence-of-abuse-at-gis

  29. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Will they find all the girls to be suicidal?

    Will they all receive psychiatric care?

    Can the outcome of this review have any real credibility?

    Is there a desired outcome for this review?

    As this is the third bite of this rotten apple, can we trust another ” we did a full departmental review and found no evidence”?

  30. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Would be funny if one of the solutions was to rename the institution… Given that we have an issue with names of three or more words my bet is on
    “Instructional School”.

    Then we will admit a few “deviant boys” and blame them when the shit continues to go wrong.

  31. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Free advice
    The problem with 30-0 is you get overconfident, tell yourself that you can do no wrong, and become surrounded with yes men.

    So you come up with these smart answers, get 100% support from the coterie (yes men) and then find that only 25% of the population buys into your answers.

    The Lorenzos will support you, but they cannot inform you. Broaden the feedback or you will be cutting twice, thrice …. You will lose credibility

  32. TLSN Avatar
    TLSN

    A commentator stated “….you are dealing with evil people”. This statement is true, however the commentator forgot to add that these “evil” people operate under an archaic colonial system which is structurally evil and corrupt. Bush Tea use to always state that Barbados is a demonic island with Satan at its head. For example, how many times have we seen descriptions in our local media of wanted black men on the island described as broad nosed, thick lips, woolly unkempt hair, protruding forehead, negro dark-skinned complexion and the rest. These descriptions would have been employed when slaves fled their plantations during the time of slavery.

    The term Government Industrial School (GIS) speaks volumes as to the character and nature of the demonic system that underpins Barbados. Recently, an enquiry was carried out on on the GIS due to its exposure on social media. The results of the enquiry was that nothing untoward had taken place within the establishment. I believe there was a change of head within the leadership of this institution. Apart from that, I believe everything broadly remained in place.

    After the “enquiry”, the GIS was able to continue its business as usual approach. Out of nowhere some overseas broad called Marsha Hinds-Layne (MHL) threatened the GOB that they would be exposed internationally if there were no legal recourse to the historical and current mal practices carried out within the GIS. It should be noted that MHL worked within the GIS. Quite clearly, she had to flee the island in order to speak freely. She would have been in fear of her life if she had remained on the island.

    The Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs, Kirk Humphrey. Now that is a title that should make every decent Bajan citizen shudder. It has to be a euphemism; or some sick joke. The Minister is going to open another enquiry. Will this enquiry create a different result? I hope so. The international spotlight will be on Mr Humphrey. MHL is determined to highlight and expose the mal-practices at the GIS to the international community and appears to have built a coalition that will prevent the GOB from burying their head in the sand.

    We have a government and a Prime Minister who goes out of their way to tick every diversity box in order to show the world that Barbados is a progressive liberal country. The GIS serves as a further reminder that our system is designed to intimidate and to shackle the human rights and ambitions of their majority black population.

    I salute this broad (and I use this word intentionally!); and admire her determination to expose the wickedness of this government and the system that underpins these inequities.

    We have our first female Prime Minister who is always loud and vocal. She appears to have nothing to say concerning the mistreatment of young girls at a government run institute under her leadership. The term Missing In Action has never been more appropriate. Let us all salute the bravery of Marsha Hinds-Layne.

  33. TLSN Avatar
    TLSN

    In the UK, we are blessed to have an award wining female journalist called Amelia Gentleman. She was the first mainstream journalist who broke the Windrush Scandal in the UK. I hope that Marsha Hinds-Layne could connect with her. I believe that she would be interested in the GIS scandal.

    https://guardianbookshop.com/the-windrush-betrayal-9781783351848

  34. David Avatar
    David

    ANOTHER GIS PROBE

    Complete look into institution, vows Abrahams
    By Maria Bradshaw
    mariabradshaw@nationnews.com

    Three weeks after revealing two previous investigations at the girls’ section of the Government Industrial School (GIS) had cleared it of any wrongdoing, Government will be conducting another probe, this time of the entire GIS, by an independent panel.
    Minister of Home Affairs Wilfred Abrahams announced at a press conference yesterday that former Deputy Commissioner of Police and attorney Oral Williams will chair the three-member investigative team. It will include educator and expert on HIV/AIDS and substance abuse Tessa Chaderton-Shaw and educator and former principal Coreen Kennedy-Taitt.
    Abrahams assured the public that the inquiry will be completed in six weeks and include the wards, staff and members of the public, and that a phone line and email address will be made available.
    The probe comes at a time when there is turmoil at the reform school, with two girls at the Barrows, St Lucy section recently absconding for nine days and four girls now at the Psychiatric Hospital under suicide watch.
    “Recent events . . . have caused us significant concern,” Abrahams said, acknowledging that the GIS had been plagued for many years with allegations of abuse, mismanagement, antiquated policies and practices that were not in the United Nations conventions for the protection of juveniles deprived of their liberty.
    “The recent situation concerning the absconding has thrown up a lot of issues that bear immediate investigation and attention. Our initial surface investigations into what may have caused the young ladies to take the approach they took, and even certain policies and procedures at the school, have yielded some serious concerns that we cannot possibly ignore.”
    He added some “new allegations have also come to light that have to be investigated now”.
    “As a result, I have decided to have a departmental inquiry into the operations at the Government Industrial School – a full departmental enquiry to address all of the issues that we know are on the table; to address the policies and practices at the school; to address the curriculum; to address extra curriculum activities, to address mentorship.
    “This is not one of those investigations that go into perpetuity. There is a fixed time for dealing with this. This has to be given priority and all of the resources that Government can put at it at the point in time to get to the bottom in particular of the most recent allegations.”
    The minister stressed that at the end of the probe, based on the findings, “recommendations are going to be made and action is going to be taken and we are going to follow those findings wherever they go. We are going to leave no stone unturned in getting to the bottom of all of the allegations so that when we are finished, we would be able to report fully to Barbados, to report to the parents and to be able to report to the young ladies and say what is going to happen next.”
    He also warned that action
    will be taken against anyone found in breach, but added: “If people are to be exonerated, then they will be exonerated. But we are going to get once and for all to the bottom of all of the allegations swirling in relation to the Government Industrial School.”
    Last week, attorney Anya Lorde filed an emergency hearing in the High Court to ask that the two girls who absconded, be removed from the school. At that hearing, allegations were made against an official at the school which led the court to issue a no-contact order between the official and the child.
    When asked about this situation yesterday, Abrahams said he was not at liberty to speak on the matter but that all allegations will be investigated.
    Questioned further about concerns that the girls were placed in solitary confinement in cells when they were returned to the school and that they would also be subjected to physical examinations despite objections from their parents, he said this fell under police procedure.
    Three weeks ago, he told the public that the probe into an attempted break-out of five female wards had cleared staff of any wrongdoing.

    Source: Nation

  35. David Avatar
    David

    Full Dodds probe
    A full-ranging enquiry is to be conducted into the operations of Dodds Prisons.
    Minister of Home Affairs Wilfred Abrahams made the disclosure yesterday during a televised press conference where he also spoke about a similar enquiry at the Government Industrial School.
    However, he said the two investigations will be undertaken by two separate panels.
    Attorney Philip Pilgrim QC will chair the probe at the prison. He will be assisted by sociologist Dr Lisa Jaggernauth and senior lecturer in the Department of Management Studies at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies, Dr Ahkentolove Corbin.
    Of the St Philip penal institution, Abrahams said: “We have had some complaints and some concerns about the operations at Dodds.
    There are issues that have been raised about the recruitment processes, the promotions processes, the treatment of staff. Concerns raised in relation to inmates about the medical care, protection of inmates when they are in transit or attending court or clinic.”
    “So it is an opportune time as well to do a departmental enquiry into the operation of Dodds Prisons to address a lot of the complaints that we have there,” he added.
    The enquiry is to run for three months. Last October, head of the Prison Officers’ Association, Trevor Browne, was found not guilty by a magistrate of trying to seduce fellow officers from their duty, while the association also successfully fought in court for the right to join a trade union, reversing decades-old legislation which prevented them from doing so. (MB)


    Source: Nation

  36. David Avatar
    David

    More reports of child abuse
    There was an increase in the number of sexual abuse cases reported to the Child Care Board (CCB) in March.
    In some situations, said senior child care officer Roxanne Sanderson, the minors were abused at the hands of a parent’s partner or by strangers.
    “For the first quarter of the year, the sexual abuse cases increased as well as the physical abuse cases, so we are seeing more reported cases coming in because more persons are reporting. If we had six or eight cases of sexual abuse in February, we had about 16 cases reported in March, so they significantly went up,” she said.
    Sanderson revealed those numbers to the Sunday Sun yesterday after the CCB concluded its Child Abuse Awareness And Prevention month of activities with a walk throughout Bridgetown.
    The theme for April’s activities was Speak Up, Speak Out, Report Child Abuse.
    She said that it was unfortunate that some of the children involved were not aware they were victims, as she cited the sexual offences legislation which states that having sexual intercourse with individuals under 16 is illegal.
    “We had several reported cases of where children were sexually abused by unknown perpetrators. There are a lot of cases that speak to a mother’s boyfriend interfering with girls, and we’ve also been seeing where young girls think that they are in relationships when they should understand that according to the law, you are not supposed to be in sexual relationships,” Sanderson added.
    Director of the CCB, RoseAnn Richards, said there may have been an increase in reporting since face-to-face teaching school resumed on February 21. “During lockdowns where people are confined, that is an easy opportunity or recipe for things of this nature, and our children were home for a long time and not going into school.
    They might not have felt comfortable before but when the schools opened, they started to talk among friends and the information may have been reported to the guidance counsellors,” she said.
    She said it was their goal to reduce the caseload but also encouraged more people to speak out.
    “There are other variables that will lead to other children being exploited and mistreated. When families refuse to provide care, shelter and other basic needs, children will look
    elsewhere, but we need to reduce it and if possible, eradicate it,” Richards added.
    Sanderson said they conducted case conferencing and did their best to manage the situations.
    “All child abuse cases are reported to the police. However, while we do the management aspect of it, we report to the police so they can deal with the criminal aspect of the investigation,” she added.
    Yesterday evening, Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs Kirk Humphrey, under whose portfolio the CCB falls, said he will be going to Cabinet to get the Child Protection Bill passed that will enforce mandatory reporting.
    “There is no mandatory reporting law and when cases are reported, the system is slow to act. There is abuse reported in Year 1 and not heard until Year 10. But the responsibility is on all of us to come forward and say what we know.
    “I am hoping to also also get a child court established to deal particularly with children,” said the minister who was speaking during a televised press conference to address issues facing the Government Industrial School and Dodds Prison.
    (TG)


    Source: Nation

  37. David Avatar
    David

    We must first change our mindsets
    VOB 92.9 recently aired a documentary on problems in the juvenile incarceration system in Barbados. One of the interviewees, attorney Michael Koieman, identified a particular national mindset at the root of the problem.
    This mindset regards severe methods of punishment as the ideal form of discipline. Koieman argues that “If we want this institution to move against that grain, at the very least the people who are going to be responsible for administering it need to have a different mindset, whether we achieve that by training, whether we achieve that by importing people from overseas – that is the only way it is going to work”.
    Another interviewee, attorney Lisanne Taylor, spoke to the difficulty of pushing for real transformation as an individual. “You find yourself going against the system and you become bogged down because after a while it becomes burdensome . . . . If you have one person who is trying to be a change agent while everybody around them is happy for the status quo to remain, it gets very challenging.”
    Koieman speaks of mindsets. Taylor speaks of systems. Systems and mindsets come together to make a culture. Both must be addressed simultaneously if a culture is to be transformed.
    Once the systems and mindsets of a culture gain momentum, they can be hard to brake or steer in another direction. It’s not that Barbadian culture has not been transforming over the years. It is the depth, durability and direction of those transformations which are in question.
    Barbados has transformed from a colony based on chattel slavery to something else. But how deep has that transformation gone? Is the exploitation of labour and land for the benefit of a few still at the heart of our society? When examining the race and class structure of Barbados, boasts of a transformed society can seem wanton and shallow.
    Educational system
    Barbados had a reputation for relatively high levels of education.
    While this was part of a colonial strategy to maintain control and order from a distance, we made the best of it. With a reported 60 per cent of students leaving secondary
    school without certificates in recent times, the durability and sustainability of our educational system is in serious doubt.
    And then there is the question of the direction of transformation. Some people still talk about a troubling ZR subculture. They may not realise that what we call a subculture has burst through to the surface. It’s not sub anymore. It is they whose culture is sinking and may have already been submerged. Those defenders of the status quo, who attorney Taylor spoke of, often live in a bubble which they control. They remain oblivious or unaffected by the transformation going on outside their bubble.
    Without the required care and attention, that transformation is more likely than not to be crumbling and to decay. The agents of the status quo will then point to this crumbling and decay as evidence that the status-quo should be protected and efforts at transformation should be stifled. They say things like, “We need to discipline (beat) children like we used to,” “Leave the 11-Plus and Nelson alone,” “Political third parties are a waste of time.” The waste is the time, energy and resources used to prop up systems and mindsets that don’t serve us.
    Barbados has a culture of systems and mindsets that were designed to exploit, rape and plunder the people and the land. Changing systems without changing mindsets is to continue exploitation under new systems. Trying to change mindsets without changing systems leads to cosmetic changes which do little to change the culture at the core.
    Koieman’s point runs even deeper. If we want this country to move against that grain and transform, at the very least the people who are going to be responsible for administering that transformation need to have a different mindset.
    Adrian Green is a communications specialist. Email: Adriangreen14 @gmail.com


    Source: Nation

  38. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    This investigation should include a live TV examination of the Board on local TV and radio
    The minister indicated that some people were not inclined to answer questions in the last investigation
    If the same occur with this new investigation the same result would happen
    The necessity for transparency and accountability should be at the heart of this new investigation
    Faces seen and voices heard when questions are asked of the board

  39. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Adrian Green delivers again.
    I am now ready to classify him as a ‘meat and potato guy’. He now cooks for the common man instead of catering to the select few
    AG👍👍

  40. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    AG is on point when he talks about systems. When we have a justice system in which denial of justice is accomplished through delay of justice, then this will ugly artery will feed the system .

    “There is no mandatory reporting law and when cases are reported, the system is slow to act. There is abuse reported in Year 1 and not heard until Year 10. But the responsibility is on all of us to come forward and say what we know.
    “I am hoping to also also get a child court established to deal particularly with children”.

    Is it hard to imagine that a victim at 14 is an unwilling witness and court participant at 24? At that age you would prefer everyone forgot than have your name (again) bandied around Barbados

  41. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    “The waste is the time, energy and resources used to prop up systems and mindsets that don’t serve us.
    Barbados has a culture of systems and mindsets that were designed to exploit, rape and plunder the people and the land.”

    been telling them this for years, the people have to put their foot down, put immense pressure on governments or nothing will change…they are stuck in a trap of their own making and will stay there unless the people MOVE AWAY from that dead system or die with ti…

  42. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    If girls 13 and 15 are missing then it is obvious their names will be mentioned. I cannot see why their names are mentioned here

    She made the disclosure after xxxx, 13, and 15-year-old yyhyyhhh, two wards at the school, who escaped from the girls section at Barrows, St Lucy, on April 16, turned themselves in.”

    I believe it was the bloggers at BU that were responsible for the abandonment of the runway slaves description. We now call for the newspapers to now protect children identities if they are not missing or murdered. It is somewhat ironic that they will not name criminals, but will name children.

    A nation of cowards will feast on the weak, the poor and it’s children.

  43. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    Wherever this minister goes, chaos follows… water, energy, Dodds, GIS,…

    How about agriculture?
    THAT can’t possibly get any worse…
    can it?

    But he does do a good talk…..
    sounds familiar.

  44. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    I will end here
    Personal note to Kirk Humphrey…
    Separate yourself from your fellow Minister and represent these children properly. If you find that you are issuing conflicting statement with the passage of time then you are on the wrong path. Act with your heart and as if they were your children.

    Your parents are proud of your political achievement, make them proud of you as a man.
    Simple statements such as
    “that is my son”,
    “That is my dad”
    “That is my brother” …
    are the greatest honor that we can have.

    “There is a tide in the affairs of men
    Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
    Omitted, all the voyage of their life
    Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
    On such a full sea are we now afloat;
    And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.”

    This may be your moment. Seize it.

  45. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Sometimes, I just read and laugh.
    Now, I don’t know law and so the judge may be correct,
    but this seem like a duck and dodge, hem and haw and just a way for the judge to weasel his way out of making some kind of a decision

    “Marsha Hinds-Layne of Operation Safe Space told the
    DAILY NATION the matter was adjourned until next week “so that the attorney could present proof that the court had jurisdiction to overturn an order made by a magistrate because the girls are at GIS by the order of a Magistrate”.

    A disappointed Hinds-Layne stated: “We were not successful. The [court] wants proof by cases that it has jurisdiction to overturn the order of a magistrate court in a case where a child’s safety is called into question.”

    Like I said, I may be wrong, but the one thing I know … Men without balls act like pussies.

    To quote another… I gone

    Have a great day, Barbados

  46. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    The Minister stated that if his child was being entangled in such a problem he would do whatever necessary to get at the bottom of the problem
    Really
    Those words might have been the only truth he told yesterday
    But then again none of the children caught up in the violations are his
    This Ministet needs a long vacation with no expiration date

  47. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    It bothers me that we have an AG who has to do things twice.
    Now this guy Abrahams has to do things three times.
    It is good that they are trying to get things right, but this trial and error government has me concerned.

    😀Perhaps we should hold off on asking about integrity legislation and amending the constitution.
    It would not be funny if someone mistakenly wrote the Banana of Barbados (BoB) instead of Republic of Barbados (RoB). Or someone put 🍌 instead of 🇧🇧. They are some things we need to get right the first time. 😂

  48. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    The Minister stated that the security at GIS was not of the best standard
    When did the Minister know of such information
    Did he not take a hands on approach method with due diligence applied while the last investigation was taken place

  49. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Speaking as a person born without balls, I think we should substitute “backbone” for balls.

    The idea that ball bearers are better at standing up than “pussies” is anatomically incorrect.

    What one needs is an adequately curved backbone!

  50. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Words MATTER! Especially in gender stereotyping they can influence how genders perceive each other.

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