Standard of custodial care defended

Press, 14 April 1978, Page 8

Standard of custodial care defended

PA Auckland A staff member of the Owairaka Boys’ Home has defended the standard of custodial care he and his fellow staff members exercised. “People should realise we are not handling boys who have been caught sstealing apples from someone's tree,” he said. His comments were prompted by allegations made by a boy, aged 13, and his parents, of mistreatment at the home. The boys’ parents had said he was kept in “solitary confinement” for 23 hours a day for eight days, an allegation subsequently denied by a Social Welfare Department spokesman. Many of the boys were in the care of the home after being judged not to be under proper parental control, said the staff member. But others were there for offences such as rape, assault, and misuse of drugs and alcohol. Only those boys who misbehaved were kept for long in the secure unit, he said. Most were in a less confined part of the home, which had colour television and billiards among other leisure activities. “I have never seen ai instance of assault (by a staff member on a boy),” said the staff member,

who preferred not to be named. “But if a boy refuses to do as he is told, we just lock him back inside.” He agreed that this sometimes involved the manhandling of boys in order to put them in their rooms. But this would not involve hitting a boy with a closed fist. All staff were aware that corporal punishment was not to be used. Many of the boys were as sturdy as grown men. He had seen staff members being assaulted by boys. “I have been here eight months. Every time you put the key in the lock (in the secure unit) you wonder if you will walk out,” he said. A former staff member at the home, who also preferred not to be named, said that he had seen boys being subjected to unnecessary violence. This included being hit round the legs with a broom handle. He agreed that some of the boys had to be physically restrained at times, but not with the degree of violence he had seen. He said the response of the boys to their time in the home depended on the attitude of the staff. He himself had been firm with boys but never violent.