to better serve the interests of children and youth.
Interventions at Juvenile Detention Houses and Juvenile Reform Schools
136. After being amended in 2020, the Detention Act now states that the
placement of a defendant under detention in a protective cell shall be
immediately reported to the court that issued the detention order for
approval, that detention may not exceed 24 hours, and that detention
houses may not place defendants in solitary confinement for more than
15 days. However, the aforementioned provisions are yet to be applied
to juvenile detention houses.
137. An investigation conducted by the Control Yuan100 found that juvenile
reform schools still use solitary confinement as a form of punishment
and that they are known to apply restraints during such confinement.
Detained juveniles who are sexually harassed/abused/bullied and those
who are subject to other forms of bullying are also not accorded suitable
intervention measures, and the incidents are not reported in accordance
with the law. Other issues include the illegal use of restraints and
detention in isolation cells, a culture of collective bullying, failure to
protect the right of juveniles at reform schools to be heard, the failure
on the part of reform school staff to implement a classroom
management model based around counseling, a lack of diversity in
curriculum planning, and a lack of individualized educational
interventions.
138. Detained juveniles with disabilities: In regard to §§58 and 202 of the
Second Report, the Control Yuan found in its investigation of juvenile
reform schools and juvenile detention houses multiple cases of sexual
abuse as well as violations of human rights by the managerial staff.
Many of the victims were detained juveniles with disabilities. These
correction institutions have long failed to establish suitable counseling
and intervention measures, resorting instead to the use of restraints or
detention in isolation or protective cells as punishment. For example,
the Taoyuan Campus of Cheng Jheng High School (now Dun Pin High
School) failed to implement any counseling or treatment measures for
detained juveniles with disabilities who demonstrated emotional
100
The Control Yuan investigation report approved on Jun 10, 2020 (Student Riot at the Changhua
Campus of Cheng Jheng High School [originally Changhua Reform School]); The Control Yuan
investigation report approved on Aug 11, 2021 (Management Restructuring Case at the Taoyuan
Reform School).
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