New call for juvenile facilities

FORMER Justice Minister Alecos Shiambos yesterday called on the government to take the necessary steps towards the creation of special juvenile courts and detention centres following the arrest of a 17-year-old student and his detention at the Nicosia Central Prisons.

Speaking to the Cyprus Mail yesterday Shiambos said keeping juveniles with convicted murderers, rapists and thieves would be detrimental to their rehabilitation, and called on the government to take steps towards the creation of juvenile courts and detention centres.

“Cyprus is very much lagging behind other countries when it comes to its correctional system for juvenile delinquents,” he said.

“Although putting forward plans for the creation of juvenile courts and detention centres was the first thing on my agenda when in my short term as Justice Minister, there simply wasn’t enough time to get the ball moving, but this government should take action and go ahead with the creation of those centres.”

Shiambos said the creation of special detention centres would provide juveniles with a safer environment, with less security and more care so that they could be rehabilitated away from the influence of hardened criminals.

“Keeping youths together with common criminals only results in a hatchery for crime,” he said.

“Youths are in a stage of their lives where they could be influenced so we want to influence them in a good way and rehabilitate them so they can be good citizens.
“But keeping them in the same facility and allowing them to mix with murderers and thugs could have the complete opposite effect and they could come out of that facility with crime implanted in their brains.”

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.