Use of juvenile detention facility given a go

The U.S. Department of Justice has already consented to the use of the juvenile detention facility in Kagman to temporarily house immigration detainees pending the completion of the Saipan prison project.

With the Justice Department green-lighting the plan, the Attorney General’s Office said immigration detainees would be brought to the Division of Youth Service’s detention facility in Kagman possibly beginning Oct. 11.

“They have approved our plan,” said assistant attorney general Ed Buckingham, the CNMI’s consent decree coordinator to the Justice Department.

The CNMI Department of Community and Cultural Affairs, which has jurisdiction over the DYS, earlier expressed concern that the plan could have an impact on youth offenders staying at the Kagman facility.

The facility consists of two buildings, each of which has a capacity of 20 detainees. The youth offender population in one of the buildings has remained low, with Buckingham reporting that it only had about four juveniles last week.

Buckingham said the AGO wants to use the other building, which currently has zero population, to temporarily house immigration detainees to make better use of the facility space. He also said the DYS facility has better living conditions than the detention facility in As Perdido.

Up to 20 immigration detainees could be jailed at the DYS facility. If the population reaches beyond 20, the remainder would have to be jailed at the As Perdido facility, Buckingham said.

Before implementing the plan, the government attorney said a fence that would ensure a sight-and-sound barrier between the youth and immigration detainee populations would be built to separate the two buildings at the DYS compound. Buckingham said the fence would create separate access paths to the multi-purpose space inside the compound, where the detainees could have recreation and other activities.

If the youth population is outside the building, the immigration detainee population should be inside their building, and vice-versa, Buckingham said.

The expected completion of the multi-million-dollar prison project in Susupe is on Dec. 15. The CNMI is undertaking the project to comply with the consent decree between the local government and the U.S. Justice Department, which was reached following findings of deplorable conditions at present jails.