About a week ago, a violent incident at the Security Unit (Unisec), a closed juvenile unit operated by the Socio-Educational Centre in Dreiborn, escalated to such an extent that the police had to be called to get the situation under control. The MPs of the responsible parliamentary commission discussed the events on Monday. Unisec Director Ralph Schroeder was present to answer the politicians’ questions.
There are currently eleven adolescents, or as they are officially referred to ‘residents’, at Unisec, bringing the facility to its limits, as its maximum capacity is twelve.
Six of them, four boys and two girls, refused to go back to their bedrooms that evening, Schroeder explained.
This resulted in a “tense situation”, which was ultimately brought under control thanks to the police. At the end, the police officers brought the adolescents to their rooms. The incident did, however, result in a number of people being injured, according to Schroeder.
The Unisec Director stressed that a situation like this has never occurred in the four years since the facility’s creation, and those in charge also assume that it will remain “an exception” in the future.
Speaking to our colleagues from RTL Radio and Télé, Schroeder pointed out that out of the current group of residents, over half have only been at the facility for less than a month. This is something that should be kept in mind, according to the Unisec director, as this naturally creates a certain “instability” within the group.
Regarding the ongoing pandemic, Schroeder also stressed that “the collective irritation” that can be observed across all parts of society, is also present at a facility like Unisec.
The incident is currently being processed by everyone involved, particularly with the adolescents. MP Octavie Modert from the Christian Social People’s Party (CSV) thinks that the pedagogic programme and the one-on-one guidance should be expanded to include a preventive aspect.
Modert stated that the authorities should prepare the facility in a way that takes into account the arrival of adolescents with “a more difficult past”, who may have already committed more serious crimes. The pedagogical programme should be adapted to them as well, according to Modert.
The fact that two of the adolescents involved in the incident were temporarily brought to the adult prison in Schrassig remains an issue for the MPs. An important step in the right direction are two draft bills that are currently in the final stages, as MP Djuna Bernard from the Green Party (Déi Gréng) stressed. One of them is a new law for the protection of the youth and the other a bill dealing with juvenile criminal law.
Bernard described these two texts as “the big flagship projects” of this area. Both draft bills are expected to be submitted to the Chamber of Deputies before Easter.
The full report in Luxembourgish by RTL Télé:
