While it is entirely possible that such actions are wholly and solely motivated by sympathy, the potential for abuse in such behaviour is enormous. Especially in an environment where children are held in detention on an island with no other adults except those who are in charge of guarding them. Staff from the Juvenile Justice Centre can arrive at the island at any time for a review or for inspection. Apart from that, the children are left alone on the island with the officers with no civilian oversight. In relation to specific and formal mechanisms for participation—they are virtually non-existent at the Centre. Given the strict disciplinary regime that governs all activities, children are not consulted about what their views and opinions are on anything. They are provided schedules and told to adhere to them. And, most importantly, there are no mechanisms for children to make a complaint about the centre, its facilities or its staff. Nor are there any review mechanisms made available to children, which they can use to comment on or evaluate the centre, its facilities, and staff. Interviews with children at the centre revealed mixed feelings among them about the centre. Life appears to be harder for those who have been at the centre for the least amount of time – not having adjusted to the disciplinary regime and the severe restrictions of movement to which they are subjected. One detainee who had been at the centre for just over a month remained on the verge of tears throughout the discussion. He said he had committed a burglary (of what magnitude he did not specify), and that he had been sent to the island with the consent of his parents. [The latter is a requirement of the JJU policy in deciding to send children to the centre]. In relation to the procedures for deciding to send a child to the detention centre, the ultimate decision is made by the Juvenile Justice Coordination Committee comprised of a member from the Home Ministry, JJU, Police Service, Attorney General’s Office, Department of Gender and Family Protection Service, Department of Penitentiary and Rehabilitation, and from a children’s NGO. The initial step towards a child ending up at the Centre, however, is often taken by police officers after children come to their attention for various reasons. Before the decision to detain a child is made, s/he has to have been cautioned by officers at least once before, and prior advice has to have been given to parents/guardians to take steps to remedy the child’s behaviour. Discussions with children revealed that sometimes the decision to send a child to the detention centre is taken arbitrarily. One of the children said his brother was a close friend of a senior officer in charge of the facility, and that the arrangement to have him detained had been made after his brother requested it of the police officer. He admitted to truancy, to being on the streets and to engaging in anti-social behaviour that alienated him from his mother and his larger family. At the time of the interview he had been at the centre for five months, and feels himself a changed person now. ‘I feel myself reborn here,’ he said. He is achieving good scores in the training programmes, and for the first time in a long time, he said, he has managed to make his mother proud and happy. Other children, however, were more ambivalent about being there. One said that he was frustrated and ‘bored’ about the strict daily regime. But, he said, ‘There are rules to follow. What can you do, but follow them?” 64