Salesians of Don Bosco Providing Care to Minors Abandoned Behind Bars in Madagascar

“To be closer to them, we used to give gifts to the various directors and officials, as well as to the prison guards, at Christmas and Easter, and we always invited them to eat with us and with the adolescents,” the Italian-born SDB Priest says.

The SDB members engage the minors in activities such as music, theatre, and sports, as well as spiritual formation through the celebration of Holy Mass, catechism, and the screening of religious and educational documentaries.

In the February 22 report, Fr. Corselli shares that on average, there are around 100 children, aged between nine and 17 at the correctional facility.

Authorities conduct roundups at night or during the day, and sometimes bring in teenagers caught trying to steal.

But often, it is the parents themselves who put the children in prison “because they do not know what to do with them,” Fr. Corselli says.

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The Catholic Missionary Priest says that the objective of his Religious Institute is to make the minors who are locked behind bars feel loved, important in the community, not a burden to get rid of, and “to make them understand that they are not abandoned.”

"Unfortunately, during the week they are subject to rigid prison rules which do not take into account their right to play and free time, but on Sundays, they can participate in sports and recreational activities,” Fr. Corselli says.

He adds that because the authorities are unable to provide regular and balanced meals to the young prisoners, SDB members have taken the initiative to distribute full meals through the SDB Novices.

Fr. Corselli finds it heartbreaking that minors whose only fault is living on the streets without the support of their families, and also children and young people whose families are unable to care for, are punished alongside those in prison for committing serious crimes.

“We have tried to save some of them, but with others, we haven't succeeded because they need constant care and we don't always have the possibility,” the Priest is quoted as telling Agenzia Fides.

In the report, the information service of Propaganda Fide notes that in some countries around the world, minors are arrested and detained for trivial reasons, such as running away from home, sleeping on the streets, and skipping school.

Sometimes, these children are tried as adults, condemned to serve their sentence in adult prisons, and receive equal treatment with adults by the police, Agenzia Fides laments.

Agnes Aineah is a Kenyan journalist with a background in digital and newspaper reporting. She holds a Master of Arts in Digital Journalism from the Aga Khan University, Graduate School of Media and Communications and a Bachelor's Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communications from Kenya's Moi University. Agnes currently serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.