Review
Children in detention amidst COVID-19 in Africa: A wound untreated

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amsu.2022.104217Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Children in detention in African continent, are vulnerable to worsening of their health condition amidst COVID pandemic as well as fueling pandemic in the prisons having children and adult population as inmates.

  • On observation, the children in detention in Africa are detained for crimes ranging from minor to status crimes. The detention of children, should present, with measures put in place to guarantee the protection of their fundamental rights of peace and justice.

  • Interventions, policy formation, and recommendations such as Child-centered services in prisons that are focused on equity of access to social, health amenities; Prioritizing children for immediate release; and development of a comprehensive migration framework that addresses the detention of children to prevent them from being kept in detention; are worthy contributions.

Abstract

Children in detention in Africa are part of the vulnerable population exposed to the COVID-19 pandemic due to factors such as overcrowding, poor healthcare of inmates, and lousy state of the facilities. The number of children in detention was estimated to be about one million in 2010, and this has further increased threat to global health. The fall in operating criminal justice systems, from the aspect of rehabilitation and reform in Africa, to its being plagued with crisis, overpopulation, and inability to conform to fundamental human rights and health standards. It was noted that children in detention in Africa end up in prison mainly because they are either given birth to by incarcerated mothers or sentenced to jail based on their alleged criminal activity. Also, certain limitations in some African countries to track the prevalence of COVID-19 and other diseases include inaccessible data, non-specificity of data, and unreliable information regarding the current prison situation. Sometimes, these data could be insufficient and hard to comprehend, primarily if written in the local language. The efforts to resolve the untreated wounds of children in detention during COVID-19 are somewhat tricky. However, this paper identifies these limitations and proffers recommendations such as; the identification and implementation of strategies that support the continuity of child-centered services, prioritizing children for immediate release, and ensuring adequate protection of their health and well-being, among others.

Keywords

Children
Detention
COVID-19
Pandemic

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