Submitted by crinadmin on
Organizers, panelists, country delegates, NGOs my colleagues and everyone who is present I greet you all. I am Thandanani from South Africa. It is a great honor for me to find a place to Share my Story regarding the juvenile justice system on my past experience. I always avoid to share this with people because it a sad story that I don't want to remind myself about it, but today I am proud to share this because I realize that it not about me but it about the children and youth who suffer the same challenges as mine everywhere. We have learnt this week all about human rights and our rights in the juvenile justice system. When you hear my words, please think about how my rights have been violated and remember that my story is the same as so many others. When you hear my words don’t just listen… but think how you can do something about them in your country and community. A few years ago at an age of 16 I was arrested and kept in a dark police station cell. I was accused of armed robbery by association because I was with the perpetrator before the crime was committed. The cell was dark and no good health because I was supposed to take my food in the cell, which had the toilet inside and I had dirty clothes on sleeping on the floor with older people in the cell too. They refused to call my family. There was no place to bath and no exercise was given to me during the 3 days I was in the cell. I had flu. The prosecutor met me and promised to give me harsher punishment if I am not willing to work with him and admit guilt. I was charged at night for aggressive armed robbery, finding myself as one of two people accused I appeared in court on the 4th day of my detention and the magistrate sent me to prison to await trial. There I was put with older people and held there for 5 months waiting for bail. The adults abused me and the other young people there. If we reported this to the prison wardens, they mocked us and laughed at us. They didn’t take it seriously that older people were abusing younger people saying ‘what are you doing in prison anyway when you are young’. Health was far away. I found myself sleeping down on the floor because the place was too crowded and not enough beds. There were 80 of us in the one cell. Finally after 5 months in pre-trial detention my trial began .I was still facing real challenge because I was not having any legal support. At the trial I was scared. I didn’t even get a chance to speak to the judge at all. I pleaded not guilty. I was sentenced to 15 years in prison. I was then sent to another court. There I was given a state lawyer. She told me to plead guilty this time so that I would get a smaller sentence. But I refused to do this. Despite this, she did it anyway and told the judge that I plead guilty. I was then sentenced to four years. During all my court appearances the victim of the alleged crime was never there and the police did not attend either to support their statement. I was sent to prison. In the prison I found myself with adults on long sentences, life sentences and serious criminals. They were so abusive to me because I was pulling a shorter sentence and I was young. I spent 5 months in this prison. It was so crowded, health situation was so bad, people had TB in my cell and no exercise. We only got out for 5 minutes a day sometimes. I was offered no education at all. After 5 months in the adult prison, the authorities realized that I was under-18 and shouldn’t be in the main prison. They moved me to a Juvenile prison. Here I was offered education but it was so difficult. There weren’t the books I needed to study, so I had to try and get them myself. I couldn’t get them but despite this I worked as hard as I could and I still took exams in the first year in a course in marketing management. A year later there were still no books and they didn’t organize it for me to take my second year exams. I was so angry because I had wasted my time trying to study. Whilst I was in prison it was difficult to call my family because we had to buy a phone card and we didn’t have money, but they only let you use the phone once a week. Practicing any religion was also difficult for us all. I was never treated with dignity or respect. They used to strip us naked whenever they searched the prison, even in front of women. After 2 years and two months in the juvenile prison I was released under parole supervision. I was offered no rehabilitation or help to reintegrate. We have a right in the Convention on the Rights of the Child to benefit from programmes designed to help you return to family and community life on our release and to received education. Since my release life has been challenging. I felt confused. I had to try and move forward with my life but the support was not there. I know that for some young people in my country they do get some rehabilitation but it is still not there for everyone. Education in my country is so good, but not if you are a young person in conflict with the law. The challenge is still there, it is hard to find a job for me, because of the stigma. In almost all government department jobs they don’t hire someone with a criminal record. How can they expect other people to employ us when they won’t employ us themselves? What message does this send? Government needs to work more closely together with NGOs to support us when we are released to help us rebuild our lives. I beg everyone to put every effort to improve the lives of young people in conflict with the law. According to international standards prison should only be used as a last resort and for the shortest period of time. On their release from prison young people have a right to programmes of rehabilitation and reintegration. This is not the case in Africa, meaning so many children and young people are going to prison and then being failed on their release because there is no rehabilitation and they suffer the stigma. We also need to use prevention strategies to stop young people coming into conflict with the law in the first place. I am proud to be a South African…..but in the future I also want to be proud of how we treat all young people. Make justice a reality for young people now and tomorrow. Thank you