It's the hard-knock life for juvenile offenders

It's half past one in the afternoon and "Amir", 16, and "Agus", 14, are pushing a small cart along a corridor in the juvenile detention center in Blitar, East Java.

Plates of rice and vegetables are arranged on the cart, lunch for the children being held in the three-hectare facility.

When they arrive in front of a cell, Amir places a tray carrying five to seven plates of rice by the cell door. Agus reaches for another tray filled with plates of vegetables and sets it down.

"We do this chore nearly every day, so our friends won't go hungry," Amir told The Jakarta Post.

Amir and Agus are two of the 126 children being held at the center. Amir, from Tulungagung, East Java, was sentenced to six years detention for robbery. "I was drunk at the time, which is why I agreed to go along with my friends when they robbed someone," he said.

Amir has served four years of his sentence. He has received several remissions for good behavior while in the facility. "I'll be out in about a year if nothing happens," said the boy, his left arm covered in tattoos.

Agus is unwilling to talk about what he did that landed him in juvenile detention.

East Java has just one juvenile detention center, the one in Blitar. Though described as a special detention center for young offenders, it looks much like a typical adult prison, with ubiquitous iron bars separating the cells.

"Physically, a juvenile detention facility should not be different from any other house of detention. The only difference is that security and supervision should be tighter," the head of the East Java Child Protection Council, Sri Adiningsih, told the Post.

Blitar's juvenile correctional facility consists of 450 cells. Two iron gates serve as the main entryway into the center, which was built in 1961. The administrative office and the detention cells are separated by a three-meter high gate made of iron bars with sharp ends.

The cells encircle a courtyard, soccer field and mosque. The cells, which measure seven meters by four meters, are each occupied by six or seven detainees. A child who is considered a "problem" will be placed in one of the isolation cells at the far end of the facility.

There is currently one boy being held in isolation.

"The boy frequently commits sodomy. It would be risky to mix him with the others," said a guard.

A communal bathroom is located next to the area for drying clothes. "There are only two sources of running water in the center, and both are filthy. I have proposed the facility add other water sources and install taps in different places, but to no avail," said Adiningsih.

There are occasional outbreaks of skin problems as a result of poor sanitation.

Classrooms for elementary school, junior high school and high school students are located behind the mosque. The children study standard school subjects, as well as being taught life skills.

Teachers from state schools in Blitar come to the center to teach the children. Six elementary school, eight junior high school and five high school students passed their final exams in 2006.

The center also teaches the detainees arts and crafts, such as gamelan and dance, wood carving, mat weaving and sewing.

Handicraft products produced by the children are sold to parents and other visitors. There is a soccer field, table tennis facilities and a volleyball court, as well as a TV room.

"The TV set is broken right now," said a guard.

Mishcan, the head of the facility, acknowledged the center had a number of problems. But he said they were doing what they could on a very limited budget to address these problems.

"We want to change the physical appearance of the center by removing the iron gates and bars, but that takes a lot of money. Where can we get the money?" Mischan said.

The center does not receive money from the provincial or regency budget.

Employees must seek funds from the Blitar administration to cover its annual operational costs of around Rp 800 million (US$89,000).

"We receive Rp 289 million for meals, but we really need more than Rp 300 million to meet the required standards," said Mischan.

Then there are all the costs and the problems of trying to house more and more children on a budget that never seems to increase.

The losers in all of this are the children housed in the center. While not innocents, having committed various acts that got them locked up, they do require proper care, including schooling and counseling, if they are to have any chance of leading productive lives once they are released. Without this care, there is a good chance they will just find their way back to the Blitar facility, or in a few years into an adult prison.