Children’s Legal Aid to provide free assistance to some remanded juveniles

Jan 07, 2012 News

by Keeran Singh

Juvenile offenders remanded to the Juvenile Holding Centre, Sophia will receive free legal representation from the Children’s Legal Aid if their guardians cannot afford to hire attorneys for them.
This is according to Legal Aid official, Attorney-at-Law, Jaya Manickchand who mentioned some of the organisation’s plans for 2012 during an interview with this publication.
She further stated that from January 15 the Children’s Legal Aid’s will be visiting the holding centre to ascertain how many children are without legal representation.
This initiative is part of the organisation’s proactive approach in increasing children’s access to its services. Legal Aid is cognizant that the number of children who visit the office does not reflect the true number of juveniles who need assistance, Manickchand stated.
Later in the year, the body will also be visiting Georgetown Prison (Camp Street Jail) and New Amsterdam Prison to ascertain how many 17-year-olds on remand require its assistance.
Legal Aid will also be conducting countrywide outreaches aimed at enlightening children and parents of its services via posters in police stations, offices of social workers and Education Departments.
This expansive mandate of Legal Aid will be supported with its newly appointed fulltime Attorney-At-Law Madan Kissoon.