Shocking treatment revealed in report on Karoo rehab centre
DETAILS of daily strip searches, solitary confinement and being banned from school for "crimes" such as bed-wetting have emerged in a court spat involving the controversial Noupoort Christian Care Centre in the Karoo.
These damning claims have emerged in a report by the Centre for Child Law, which was asked to intervene in a court bid to evict the centre from Transnet's land.
The centre is no stranger to controversy, having made headlines in the early 2000s for alleged human rights violations.
The centre was ordered to close its doors in 2004 after an investigation by the Department of Social Development following the death of a teenage boy, but it later won a court victory to remain open.
The facility's treatment of its charges is the focus of the Centre for Child Law's 33-page report to the Kimberley High Court, where the eviction matter resumes today.
The centre interviewed the facility's 19 minor residents – girls and boys aged between 16 and 18 being treated for drug abuse – to determine the impact an eviction would have on them.
But, while the Noupoort centre claimed the eviction would infringe the children's rights, the Centre for Child Law found that it was breaking the law and the children would be better off elsewhere.
"The children may be considered to be in need of care and protection, not on account of the eviction, but the infringement of their rights and interests by [Noupoort]," the centre concluded.
The centre's findings included:
- Children were subjected to gruelling workouts and had to clean pig pens as part of their rehabilitation;
- Adults and children were housed together, against the law;
- There is a lack of professional caregivers working directly with the children;
- If children run away, police are called to track them down and return them to the centre, where they are punished.
The third level of punishment at the facility – after warning slips and restricting privileges – known as correctional intervention or CI, includes a bar on attending school, daily squat-and-cough strip searches, cleaning with a toothbrush and solitary confinement.
Serious misdemeanours like escape bids will land children with correctional intervention punishment, as will bed-wetting and self-mutilation.
The centre noted in its report: "The team was deeply concerned to observe that one girl was sentenced to 21 days in CI for cutting herself with broken glass. Another was sentenced to the same period for wetting her bed."
It said it was worrying that some of these girls were suffering from depression and coping with the death of a parent, and instead of receiving therapy, they were punished.
Despite the allegations, some of the children interviewed indicated they would like to remain at Noupoort.
Transnet would not comment on the case at this stage, while the Department of Social Development did not respond to queries. - Leonie Wagner
