SXMElections.com

CAY BAY--The eagerly anticipated Miss Lalie Youth Care Centre was officially opened December 10 by Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson in the presence of a number of dignitaries, invited guests and members of the Meyers family, in commemoration of Eulalie Meyers who the Centre is named after. The Centre is set to start receiving youths as of next week.

The modern Cay Bay building had been designed as a boarding school-type facility meant for foster care, and was then restructured for use as a closed facility for boys ages 12 to 18, who are to be detained whilst receiving counselling, treatment, guidance and education, in order to enable them to have the best possible chance of succeeding in society.

A closed institution, it provides 10 places for boys sentenced by the criminal court and another 10 for boys with severe behavioural issues who have not been sentenced but who have received a placement order by a civil court.

Until now, there has been no such facility available locally for this demographic, as explained by Angela Dekker of Dutch financing institution USONA who said that the lack of a youth rehabilitation centre was questioned over a decade ago by a Geneva committee during a conference on the Rights of the Child.

Team Leader Natasha Carty acted as Master of Ceremonies for the opening event, introducing various key decision makers and dignitaries, the Center's team comprising social and security workers, and guiding a tour of the facility.

The Centre was financed by the Ministry of Justice and USONA. However, the collaboration included efforts by Horizon Foundation in the Netherlands, Court of Guardianship (CoG), Ministry of Welfare, Ministry of General Affairs, the Police Force, the Prosecutor's Office, Foundation Judiciary Institutes Windward Islands and a diverse project team. Ron Verhaar was mentioned numerous times for his particular efforts in realising the project.

Key representatives of each of these entities were in attendance, including CoG Director Richelda Emmanuel and Acting Chief Prosecutor Karola van Nie who is also a member of the project team. Both individuals delivered short speeches. Caretaker Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams and Acting Governor Reynold Groeneveldt were amongst the dignitaries in attendance.

Minister Richardson said that the name Youth "Care" Centre was chosen after some deliberation, as opposed to "rehabilitation" or "detention" centre. "The focus is not on detention," although "naturally there are the aspects of a guarded community." He added that hopefully the project could serve as inspiration so that later 18-24 year olds could also have designated spaces away from a general prison population.

He said he called on the community to step up to the plate as well, in hopes that the youths could successfully return to school or work after receiving treatment. In the same respect, Emmanuel called on the community to "be ready for them with open arms."

Eulalie "Miss Lalie" Meyers, was described by Carty and her son, MP Frankie Meyers, as someone with strong faith, love, and persistence, and as someone who cared for the incarcerated in particular. Emmanuel commented that "Lalie was the first name to come up" with respect to naming the facility.