64 minors jailed as 56 others await trials
Dar es Salaam. A total of 64 children have been jailed in Ruanda Prison Juvenile Correctional Centre in Mbeya Region while 56 others are remanded, awaiting a court’s decision on charges facing them.
Minster for Health, Ms Ummy Mwalimu, said this on August 21 during the handover of a water well drilled at the Upanga Juvenile Correctional Centre in Dar es Salaam.
She said though the children have been remanded pending their cases, they were being treated like any other child.
"We have five juvenile correctional centres in the country. In addition to this one, others are in Tanga, Moshi, Arusha and Mbeya Regions. We have plans to build more correctional centres for children,” she said adding:
“This is because in some regions, for example in Morogoro, when a minor is arrested, he or she is supposed to be in a juvenile remand prison but they are instead included in adults cells.”
The minister pointed out that the water well support would reduce the government’s burden. She said the government was issuing Sh4.8 million for the centre’s water services annually.
