You're not a child, you're a prisoner, the prison warden told me. I wanted to disappear, begins her confession for the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIN-CG) L. (name known to the editorial staff), who, as a 16-year-old girl, ended up in the Directorate for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions (UIKS) in Spuž.
"During my time in prison, I learned that I was not allowed to be there," says the now-adult girl, who asked to remain anonymous.
While she was a minor, contrary to all domestic and international regulations, she spent more than eight months in Spuž, staying in the same rooms as adult women who had committed serious crimes. She was there because of a few grams of marijuana.
Before being placed in UIKS, she was briefly in the Ljubović Center for Children and Youth. She ended up there for petty theft. In addition to a difficult childhood, a neglectful mother, and a beating father, the competent institutions did not even bother to provide this girl with comfort.
"And now in the winter I get the same feeling, the same wind chills me, the same smell, like in the Ljubović home, where I first came when I was 15. When they placed me in the home, I felt terrible, like I was going to die. I thought I wouldn't be able to hold on, my whole world had collapsed," she says.
She spent a little less than half a year in Ljubović at first. She never dreamed that she would later remember the winds and smells that haunted her with nostalgia.
From the documentation that CIN-CG has access to, it is clear that she was sentenced to a correctional measure of being sent to a penitentiary-type institution, but the court decided that she would serve the sentence in a "specialized department" of the UIKS in Ljubovići, where she had been staying until then.
However, there is no such department in Spuž, only the Department for Juveniles, but she is not even placed there. The court nevertheless assesses that her stay in prison will provide her with protection and assistance, as well as proper development with the aim of not repeating criminal acts. The decision was made by a Council chaired by judge Radomir Ivanovic, members Vladimir Novović i Miljana Pavlićević.
The High Court did not respond to CIN-CG's questions about why they allowed violations of regulations and international standards and how often such situations occur.
UIKS did not respond to the same questions either.
After eight months in prison, the court commuted her sentence to Ljubović, where she remained until she reached adulthood. The court's decision explained that since she was the only female minor inmate in the prison at the time, she could not serve her sentence in the juvenile ward, as it housed only male minors.
"It would not be beneficial to impose another educational measure that is milder in nature than the same one," the Higher Court in Podgorica assessed.
This decision was signed by the Council, which, in addition to Ivanović and Pavlićević, also included a judge Miroslav Bašović.
The Ombudsman, in his opinion, determined that L. was illegally held in UIKS, and that she was the only girl in the history of Montenegrin penology who was held in prison for more than eight months without a court decision.
"Sentencing to prison actually converts an educational measure into a prison sentence. Courts impose an educational measure that they know in advance has nowhere to be carried out, and that Montenegro does not even have a department for female juveniles," the Ombudsman emphasizes.
She sued the state, but she is a judge of the Basic Court Vesna Banjević, early last year, rejected a claim for damages for unfounded deprivation of liberty. In the first-instance verdict, which CIN-CG has seen, the judge states that her eight-month stay in UIKS, in the women's department, cannot be considered unfounded deprivation of liberty, given that there is no institution in Montenegro for the execution of correctional measures of a prison type.
The judge even refers to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states that a child shall not be detained or imprisoned unlawfully, and that this shall be used as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time. However, she concludes that she was treated in accordance with the Convention.
In a similar case, a few months later, the judge of the same court Dragan Babović accepts the boy's claim for damages, with a completely opposite explanation, that UIKS is not competent to execute educational measures, but rather an institution where prison and juvenile prison sentences are served, and that the boy was illegally taken to a prison institution to execute an educational measure. The boy spent 21 months in prison.
Both verdicts are under review at the Higher Court in Podgorica.
Currently five juveniles in prison
Although many international and domestic reports warn that minors should not be in the Spuž Correctional Facility at all, there are currently five minors in that facility.
The Directorate for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions (UIKS) and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) confirmed to CIN-CG that the Juvenile Department has four juveniles with educational measures and one who has been sentenced to juvenile detention for aggravated theft and murder. According to information from UIKS, the other four are in prison for fraud, forgery and misuse of credit cards and cashless payment cards, unauthorized access to a computer system, endangering security, multiple thefts, domestic or family violence, and sexual intercourse with a child.
Several experts, as well as authorities, confirmed to CIN-CG that this is not in line with international standards, and that there should be a special institution for minors in conflict with the law.
The Ministry of Justice told CIN-CG that they have recognized the problem.
"The way in which the educational measure of placement in a prison-type institution is currently implemented effectively equates juvenile detention with this measure," the Ministry of Justice says.
They add that providing conditions for a prison-type institution requires coordination between different institutions.
We have not received any answers from the Ministry of Justice about what they are doing to solve this problem and how, nor any explanation as to why no one is dealing with these serious violations of children's rights.
The Ministry of Social Welfare, Family Care and Demography did not respond to CIN-CG's numerous questions, including whether they are working on providing a special institution for the accommodation of minors in conflict with the law.
The capacities of the Pre-trial Prison include persons over the age of 18 with various criminal pasts, so a minor in prison is a potential victim of various forms of mistreatment and is exposed to various criminal influences, which has harmful consequences for the development of his personality, the Head of the Professional Service of the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office of Montenegro told CIN-CG. Dijana Popović-Gavranović.
"Experienced - a month in detention makes a minor start to think of himself as a convict and speak the language of a convict, he is encouraged to have negative popularity and identification with (adult) perpetrators of criminal acts, he has created contacts with adult detainees, which continue even after being released from detention, all of which is unacceptable," says Popović-Gavranović.
Practice shows that there are no adequate capacities for the implementation of educational measures, especially when it comes to prison-type institutions, which do not exist in Montenegro, the Ombudsman's office also told CIN-CG.
"Courts, aware of this problem, often impose educational measures that cannot be implemented, which violates international standards and, at the very least, ignores the best interests of children," the office emphasizes.
The UN Committee Against Torture also warns that Montenegro should stop placing minors who have been sentenced to educational measures in prison.
The report Measures and Sanctions against Juvenile Offenders, from 2022, prepared by the Center for Civic Education (CCE), also emphasizes that the authorities must ensure that the execution of the sanction of referral to a prison-type institution is relocated from the Correctional Facility in Spuž.
"So that juveniles who have been sentenced to this type of sanction serve it in a correctional institution in accordance with the law and international standards, and not in prison, as is currently the practice. The way in which the educational measure of placement in a correctional institution is currently implemented effectively equates juvenile detention with this sanction, although the law clearly defines them differently," the report states.
Separate victims from perpetrators of crimes
The Ombudsman also points out that the placement of minors who have committed serious crimes in the Center for Children and Youth "Ljubović" may be controversial, because such an institution is not designed as a prison, and it has neither adequate resources nor the necessary support for such minors.
"Separating juveniles who have committed more serious crimes from others is considered important, as it can have a negative impact on younger and less problematic juveniles," the Ombudsman's office said.
The Ljubović Children and Youth Center is an institution designed to provide support to children aged 14 to 18 who have committed a crime and have been sentenced to a non-custodial educational measure by a court. Children with behavioral problems, including those under 14, can also be sent. As part of the center, a Shelter for Children and Young Victims of Human Trafficking was opened in March last year. The shelter is intended to accommodate victims of forced marriages and human trafficking, including children who have been caught begging. The shelter has a capacity of 10 users.
"This shelter is temporary in nature until an adequate location is found to establish a shelter that would be a permanent solution," it says in the Strategy for the Development of the Social and Child Protection System from 2024 to 2028.
Head of the UNICEF representative office in Montenegro Mike Servadei CIN-CG notes that Montenegro violates international standards because different groups of vulnerable children - such as those with behavioral problems and those who are victims of violence and exploitation - must be physically separated.
"UNICEF calls on the Government to find a lasting solution that would be in line with international standards, taking into account the mandatory separation of victims and perpetrators of criminal acts," Servadei emphasizes.
The Ombudsman adds that during his visit to the Ljubović Center in February this year, he noticed that a significant number of minors in that institution were using the services of a psychiatrist and therapy.
It clarifies that the inclusion of minors with mental health problems in adult institutions for treatment is not only unacceptable under the Law, but can further worsen the situation and complicate the rehabilitation process.
"Also, placing minors with these challenges in the Ljubović Center for Children and Youth is equally dangerous and inadequate, and represents a violation of the guaranteed rights of children," explains the Ombudsman.
They point out that this open-type institution accommodates different categories of children, and that it cannot fully meet the specific needs of those with more severe psychological or social problems.
"Different profiles of children within the same institution can lead to conflicts and make it difficult to individualize the necessary support," the Ombudsman's office explains.
He notes that the resources of the Day Care Center for Children with Behavioral Problems are not being used enough, considering that they found only one minor who used those services.
"The license is intended for ten minors," the Ombudsman points out.
They also notice a lack of professional staff - psychologists, special educators...
Several CIN-CG interlocutors who stayed at the Ljubović center claim that there were also children there who did not commit a crime, and that children who should have been in the Mladost Children's Home stayed in Ljubović.
They were very imaginative when escaping from Ljubovići:
"If you have two beds in a room, you have two sheets, you put them together, the bars are metal, they can be easily separated, then you crawl through the bars and when you get halfway, you jump," says one of the interlocutors to CIN-CG.
The Deinstitutionalization Strategy from 2025 to 2028 identified as a problem in the work of this institution that the stay in the accommodation determined by the Center for Social Work (CZSR) is not time-limited, that children under the age of 15 should not stay in the institution, that children and young people should be separated, and that Ljubović does not have a transformation plan.
"Unlike children and young people who are placed based on a court decision and who remain in the institution for a limited period of time (a maximum of two years), the stay of other beneficiaries is much longer, often until adulthood," the Strategy emphasizes.
It also emphasizes the need for beneficiaries who are placed by court decision and who have committed serious crimes to be separated into a special institution under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice.
They also add that the fact that there is no specialized institution in accordance with the Law on the Treatment of Minors in Criminal Proceedings is concerning. The Law states that a court may, instead of sending a minor with impaired mental development or mental disorders who has committed a criminal offense, impose a measure of sending him to a specialized institution where treatment and training of the minor can be provided.
"The law has been in force since 2011, and the conditions for implementing the measure envisaged by it still do not exist, although there is an evident great need for it," the Strategy points out.
Even after months of waiting, Ljubovići did not respond to CIN-CG's numerous questions about the work of the institution.
More and more violence
Reports from the judicial and prosecutorial organizations in recent years have stated that juveniles commit the most violent crimes.
The Prosecutorial Council's (PC) report for last year notes that the number of reported minors has been increasing since 2021.
"In 2024, 497 minors were reported, in 2023, 451 minors, in 2022, 410 minors, and in 2021, 229 minors," the TS report states.
Popović-Gavranović confirms to CIN-CG that in the last few years there has been a slight trend of increase in crimes with elements of violence.
This is confirmed by the TS report for last year, which states that crimes with elements of violence (47) significantly predominate compared to crimes with elements of theft, of which there were only three. And during 2023, the TS report also states that minors committed the most violent crimes, four times more than thefts.
The report shows that juvenile crime has slightly increased in total crime in the last few years, except in 2021 when it was half as much, probably due to the Covid epidemic.
In the last five years, of the total number of cases against minors, the fewest were resolved in 2023.
Popović Gavranović explains to CIN-CG that criminal proceedings against minors should be conducted with a minimum of inconvenience - without inhumane or degrading treatment, and the arrest, detention, detention and imprisonment of minors should be applied only as a last resort.
"Detention must not be used as a means of punishing minors, it should be applied only in exceptional cases and for a minimum period, in order to ensure the smooth conduct of criminal proceedings and the timely return of minors to their family and school environment and integration into society," emphasizes Popović Gavranović.
Imprisonment only as a last resort
She explains that the court can impose a juvenile prison sentence only as a last resort in the most serious cases. She emphasizes that no matter what the juvenile has done, it must not be forgotten that he is a child who has not yet turned 18, that the procedure is conducted against minors whose development is not complete, that they are socially, emotionally, intellectually and morally immature.
"If intervention with minors is based only on punishment, without resocialization and reintegration, society sends them the message that it has abandoned them and given up on them, which is a pretty sure path to returning to prison," notes Popović Gavranović.
The Ombudsman adds that “a more rehabilitation and support-oriented approach could reduce recidivism rates and improve reintegration into society.”
Educational measures and juvenile prison sentences are imposed by a juvenile judge. Educational measures include placement in a correctional, non-custodial, or specialized institution. The TS Report for 2023 states that in that year the court imposed educational measures on 174 juveniles, and prison sentences on three juveniles.
The number of educational measures increased slightly over the past year, when, according to the TS Report, 182 educational measures were imposed.
Apart from the fact that the state does not have the capacity to implement these measures, neighboring countries do not have a specialized institution either.
UNICEF points out that in most EU countries, the focus is on prevention and early assistance for children in conflict with the law, through alternative measures to imprisonment and psychological assistance within the juvenile justice system.
“Such prevention programs include educational support, family counseling, and community initiatives that address the root causes of problematic behavior among children. The goal is for children to take responsibility for their actions and repair the damage caused, rather than facing harsh punishments,” Servadei says.
It concludes that countries that implement these methods have found that they reduce stigmatization, prevent children from being influenced by criminal behavior, and help them re-integrate into society.
The girl from the beginning of the story is now working and struggling through life on her own, without the help of institutions.
"I would tell troubled children that I understand them and that they shouldn't cause problems. At the time, I thought the police couldn't do anything to me, I thought I was all-powerful. Today, I'm aware of my mistakes, but I didn't pay for my mistakes, I overpaid for them."
Children under 14 years old are not eligible.
The Ombudsman points out that the Law on the Treatment of Juveniles in Criminal Proceedings is inapplicable in some segments, precisely due to the lack of various support services.
The Ministry of Justice told CIN-CG that it will amend the Law on the Treatment of Minors in Criminal Proceedings.
"The latest amendments, which have been submitted to the European Commission for opinion, place special emphasis on strengthening procedural guarantees for children who are suspects or accused in criminal proceedings," the Ministry of Justice stated.
They add that the role of Social Work Centers is being intensified, and it is also prescribed to provide training for all professionals who come into contact with minors within the criminal justice system.
"Norms are also prescribed that regulate a special method of questioning a child under the age of 14, which will be conducted by a professional from the professional service in a special room equipped with technical devices for audiovisual recording, and in which case the questioning will be conducted without the presence of the prosecutor, judge, or parties in the premises where the child is located," the Ministry of Justice said.
CIN-CG's interlocutors agree that the threshold of criminal responsibility for minors should not be lowered, meaning that children under the age of 14 should not be held criminally liable.
Popović-Gavranović states that there are views that the limit should be lowered to 12 years, but she believes that they are not professional, well-founded, or in line with standards.
"Neurological brain research conducted over the last 30 years indicates that the human brain develops until the age of 26. Therefore, we cannot in any case advocate lowering the age of criminal responsibility," she points out.
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