The independent investigation led by former Magistrate Margaret Nicholas into the events of Saturday November 28 at the Youth Hostel is officially underway. We have confirmed that she has already requested and been provided with key documents. And while her investigation is expected to center on the multiple breakdowns that led to three girls being burned, one of the things she may also want to look into is the chaos that erupted in the hostel compound in the immediate aftermath of the fire. As we showed you last night - a young girl came within a few feet of jumping from the roof of another building - when other youths saved her from what looked to be a suicide attempt. Through all this - one wonders - who was in charge - where were the adults? We asked the CEO that same question yesterday:...
Jules Vasquez
"One more life was almost lost right after, one of the girls climbed on the roof and she was starting to slide down when a young boy grabbed her and pulled her back after the chaos ensued. Was there a complete loss of control? We heard glass breaking. We know the police had been brought in to put all the girls in one room. What happened after that?"
Judith Alpuche, CEO - Min. Of Human Development
"This is what miss Bradley was talking about in terms of the population that we are dealing with. What you saw and I think there was some footage also was that these young people have these reactions. They were very hysterical etc., because of what was going on and what had happened. That is exactly what happened. As we said this population we are dealing with - a mixed of young people that have psychiatric issues etc. That's why we have put in some of these measures like the intensive supervision unit etc., where the ratios are very low and where there is a more controlled environment to deal with young people like this that needs the extra level of supervision."
Reporter
"Anything to pipelines to increase the number of officers that are there to supervised?"
Judith Alpuche, CEO - Min. Of Human Development
"We've increased the staff several times. We are looking at increases again. This loan, we have actually use some of this loan money to hire staff and we are looking at the sustainability factors of that and always trying to increase staff and to recruit staff also, because we need people who are trained etc. It's not easy to find human resources who want to work with this population or who are suitable to work with this population."
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