Youths Land in Squalid Tijuana Jail While New Facility Stands Unused

TIJUANA — Like dozens of other juveniles taken into custody by the U.S. Border Patrol in San Diego each month, Francisco and his friend, Hector, were recently turned over to Mexican authorities here. And, like other unaccompanied minors, they say they were immediately placed in the overflowing confines of the Tijuana juvenile jail, where they they spent three nightmarish evenings before securing their release by posting a “bail” of 50,000 pesos--about $22.

“It was horrible there,” Francisco, 16, a resident of the central Mexican state of Jalisco, recalled during an interview at a shelter here. “There were fights all the time. There was no room to do anything. We slept on the floor. The food was terrible.”

The case of the two youths is not an isolated one. Each year, hundreds of unaccompanied juvenile migrants arrested by U.S. immigration authorities and sent back to Mexico must endure time in Tijuana’s juvenile detention facility, which is wedged between the Police Department and the adult jail downtown.

Killing Time

At the jail, the youths mix with accused juvenile criminals, including alleged rapists and murderers, and spend much of their days simply killing time, mostly in a cramped, rectangular “patio” where a few rays of sunlight penetrate through the chicken wire and bars. On the cement floor, dozens of juvenile prisoners in ill-fitting clothing and shoes sit cramped like canned fish. Tijuana children know the jail as La Ocho, because of its location near 8th Street.

At the facility, there are few activities, and fights are commonplace, according to children who have been held there and social workers and others who have visited. Designed for 40 children, the institution housed 125 minors during a recent visit by a reporter, authorities acknowledged.

The migrant youths must remain there--some up to two weeks, according to social workers--until released to the custody of their parents or legal guardian or until they have arranged passage back to their home, although they have committed no crime under Mexican law. While critics here condemn the conditions as scandalous, they are even more outraged that young migrants who have commited no infraction in Mexico must endure the place.

No Political Clout

“These children shouldn’t be in a penal setting,” said Jose Luis Manzo, a Tijuana psychologist who visited the facility numerous times while gathering information on alleged torture of minors by Mexican authorities. “Because they are from the poorest sectors of society, because they have no political clout, the government doesn’t bother to act to help them.”

Adding to the outrage of critics is the fact that a modern new juvenile detention facility--complete with outdoor basketball courts and seemingly spacious dormitories--sits unused a few miles from downtown, apparently another victim of the Mexican economic crisis. Various funding and construction problems have delayed the opening of the new jail for almost a year, observers say. Most recently, the move was put off because of the lack of adequate fencing, according to Daniel Romero Mejia, who heads the juvenile facility here.

Even once the move is made to the new site, however, the migrants will most likely remain in the downtown facility. The new buildings, Romero said, will be reserved for those accused of crimes, the majority of those in custody. Most being held are awaiting juvenile court proceedings.

Street Is Alternative

Romero, 27, who has headed the juvenile facility for five years, defends the longtime practice of placing unaccompanied migrant minors in the facility after they have been returned by the Border Patrol. The alternative, he says, is to simply allow them to go free on the streets of Tijuana, where as many as 3,000 “street children” already reside.

“It’s true that they haven’t committed any crime in Mexico,” said Romero, adding that every effort is made to care for the youths in the jail. “. . . But they might face greater danger on the streets.”

He acknowledged, however, that the migrants could be subject to “contamination” from the criminal element in the jail. Space constraints make it impossible to segregate accused criminals from the migrants, he said.

“You can only work with what you’re given,” Romero said.

Contentious Topic

He says the maximum stay for all juveniles--migrants and others--is about three months. Youths with longer sentences or more complicated legal procedures are sent to the larger and better-equipped juvenile facility in Mexicali, he said. However, others say the three-month limit is far from fixed.

“We know of some cases where children were there for seven months and didn’t even know why,” said Manzo, the psychologist.

The issue of official treatment of children in custody here been a contentious topic in Tijuana. The city is home to thousands of children who have become separated from their parents or adult guardians as part of the massive migratory flow that shapes the city. It’s not uncommon for a child here to explain that his father is in Los Angeles, working as an indocumentado, while his mother remains in their home pueblo, deep in the Mexican interior, while his brothers and sisters are scattered throughout Mexico and the United States.

Hundreds Returned

Last year, 1,721 minors were returned to Mexico by U.S. immigration authorities in San Diego, according to the Mexican consulate in San Diego, which interviews the youths while in custody.

A human rights group created an international stir last year when it alleged that police had systematically tortured children in custody, usually while seeking confessions from the youths. The methods used, the group charged, included beatings, imposition of electric shocks and spraying carbonated water up the noses of children.

The alleged torture occurred at various police stations; none took place at the juvenile jail, according to independent human rights investigators. However, children were taken by the police from the juvenile facility, tortured elsewhere and then returned, the investigators said.

Like police officials here, Romero called the torture allegations unsubstantiated. He also denied charges that guards at the facility beat the children. However, he acknowledged that fights among the youths are not uncommon. He said no serious injuries have resulted. The jail, he noted, is staffed by five guards, five psychologists and three social workers. Two doctors make regular visits and children are allowed to contact lawyers and their parents, he said.

Frequent Disputes

Children interviewed said beatings by guards were not unusual. More likely to be involved in beatings, however, were other youths, including older teen-agers authorities rely on to help keep the peace and who tend to dominate, they said. In this place where possessions are few, disputes frequently erupt over shoes and other articles of clothing, children said. Those with access to some funds can pay employees to bring them food, clothing and other needs, according to children and social workers.

“When there were fights, the guards and older ones would applaud,” said Victor, a 15-year-old migrant who spent three nights at the facility earlier this year along with his friends, Francisco and Hector. “They (other youths) tried to take all of my clothes.”

The three, interviewed at a shelter here after their release, said they were released after posting the 50,000-peso “bond” with a lawyer. Romero denied that the migrants are required to post bail, except if they have criminal charges pending against them.

Many Sleep on Floor

The 12-year-old juvenile jail consists of six bedrooms, where a reporter recently counted 39 beds, bunk-style. There are no individual cells. By all accounts, many children sleep on the floor, with blankets, until wake-up time at about 6 a.m.

At the facility, a separate wing houses juvenile girls, usually fewer than 10 at a time, Romero said. In the girls’ section, social workers say, a leaky roof led to the frequent drenching of beds during the recent rainy season.

In the boys’ wing, walls were painted a washed-out orange and pink. Fluorescent bulbs, some no longer working, provided a minimal cloudy gray light from the ceiling. There was no door to the single bathroom. The plastic dishes used by the children for their simple meals were washed in a space used for morning bathing, children said. One room with a blackboard is used for official talks, on issues such as drug addiction and the dangers of venereal disease, as well as for watching television, Romero said.

The ‘Patio’

A short corridor leads to the “patio,” a rectangular-shaped room about 80 feet long, its ceiling of wires and metal bars open to the sky.